RT Journal Article
T1 Validation of self-reported perception of proximity to industrial facilities: MCC-Spain study
A1 Castelló, Adela
A1 Pérez Gómez, Beatriz
A1 Lora Pablos, David
A1 Alguacil Ojeda, Juan
AB Background: Self-reported data about environmental exposures can lead to measurement error.Objectives: To validate the self-reported perception of proximity to industrial facilities.Methods: MCC-Spain is a population-based multicase-control study of cancer in Spain that recruited incidentcases of breast, colorectal, prostate, and stomach cancer. The participant’s current residence and the location ofthe industries were geocoded, and the linear distance between them was calculated (gold standard). The epidemiologicalquestionnaire included a question to determine whether the participants perceived the presence ofany industry at ≤1 km from their residences. Sensitivity and specificity of individuals' perception of proximity toindustries were estimated as measures of classification accuracy, and the area under the curve (AUC) and adjustedodds ratios (aORs) of misclassification were calculated as measures of discrimination. Analyses wereperformed for all cases and controls, and by tumor location, educational level, sex, industrial sector, and lengthof residence. Finally, aORs of cancer associated with real and self-reported distances were calculated to exploredifferences in the estimation of risk between these measures.Results: Sensitivity of the questionnaire was limited (0.48) whereas specificity was excellent (0.89). AUC wassufficient (0.68). Participants with breast (aOR(95%CI)=2.03 (1.67;2.46)), colorectal (aOR(95%CI)=1.41(1.20;1.64)) and stomach (aOR(95%CI)=1.59 (1.20;2.10)) cancer showed higher risk of misclassification thancontrols. This risk was higher for lower educational levels (aOR<primary vs. university (95%CI)=1.78 (1.44;2.20)),among younger participants (aOR22-54 years vs. 73-85 years (95%CI)=1.32 (1.09;1.60)), and for some industrialsectors: pharmaceutical (aOR(95%CI)=29.02 (19.52;43.14)), galvanization (aOR(95%CI)=14.14(6.78;29.47)), and ceramic (aOR(95%CI)=12.73 (7.22;22.44)). Participants living ≤1 year in the study areashowed a lower risk of misclassification ((aOR≤1 vs. >15 years (95%CI)=0.56 (0.36;0.85)). The use of selfreportedproximity vs. real distance to industrial facilities biased the effect on cancer risk towards the nullity.Conclusions: Self-reported distance to industrial facilities can be a useful tool for hypothesis generation, buthypothesis-testing studies should use real distance to report valid conclusions. The sensitivity of the questionmight be improved with a more specific formulation.
PB Elsevier
SN 0160-4120
YR 2020
FD 2020-02
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/17614
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/17614
LA eng
NO Castelló, A., Pérez Gómez, B., Lora Pablos, D., ... Alguacil Ojeda, J. (2020). Validation of self-reported perception of proximity to industrial facilities: MCC-Spain study.  Environment International, 135, 105316. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105316
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026