Estimation of TETRA radio use in the Airwave Health Monitoring Study of the British police forces

Abstract

Overview

The Airwave Health Monitoring Study is dedicated to exploring the potential long-term health effects related to the use of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) amongst Britain's police force. This specific study focuses on enhancing data accuracy by comparing self-reported data against operator-generated data.

Methods

• Average monthly usage of personal radio over a year before enrollment was calculated using a missing value imputation model.
• The model's performance was assessed by comparing it to both objective and self-reported data.
• Exploration of factors linked with TETRA radio usage through statistical tests.

Findings

Imputed data showed higher correlation with objective data than with self-reported data (correlation coefficients of 0.72 versus 0.52 respectively). Despite a tendency to under-estimate higher usage levels, the imputed approach improved the estimation of radio usage amongst participants, particularly in higher usage individuals.

Conclusion

The inclusion of objective personal radio records for a substantial segment of the study's participants allowed the refinement of the data imputation model. This adjustment provided more accurate monthly usage statistics for approximately 50,000 study participants, significantly reducing the risk of data misclassification. Future analyses will leverage these refined estimates to assess the health impacts of TETRA usage comprehensively.