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DEMONSTRATION OF LOW COST, LOW BURDEN EXPOSURE MONITORING STRATEGIES FOR USE IN LONGITUDINAL COHORT STUDIES
Citation:
Fortmann, R C. AND L S. Sheldon. DEMONSTRATION OF LOW COST, LOW BURDEN EXPOSURE MONITORING STRATEGIES FOR USE IN LONGITUDINAL COHORT STUDIES. Presented at 11th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Exposure Analysis, Charleston, SC, November 4-8, 2001.
Impact/Purpose:
The primary objective of this study is to develop and demonstrate relevant, low cost, low burden monitoring strategies that can be used in a longitudinal epidemiological study that focuses on pregnant women and young children.
Description:
A large longitudinal cohort study designed to evaluate the association between children's exposures to environmental agents and health outcomes presents many challenges for exposure monitoring. Exposure of the child must be measured for multiple chemicals through multiple pathways over an extended period of time from conception through puberty. In most exposure monitoring studies, substantial expense is incurred by the field staff traveling to a participant's home to collect the needed exposure data and samples. Multiple visits to a participant's residence increase the participant burden and negatively impact participant recruitment and retention. Validated strategies and data collection methods are needed to minimize the time spent in the field to collect the required exposure data/samples and reduce the burden on the participants.
The primary objective of the study described in this paper is to develop and demonstrate relevant, low cost, low burden monitoring strategies that can be used in a longitudinal epidemiological study that focuses on pregnant women and young children. The study will focus on (1) strategies for recruiting and retaining participants and (2) demonstrating that participants can reliably perform simple measurement methods for assessing human exposures to environmental contaminants.
In the first task of the study, focus group meetings will be conducted with pregnant women and care givers of young children to identify participant concerns and potential issues associated with recruiting and retaining participants in a long-term exposure study. The focus groups will also be used to evaluate the feasibility for remote data collection with the proposed methods. In the second task, 12-month pilot longitudinal exposure studies will be performed to evaluate measurement strategies for children in 0 to 1 year, 3 to 5 year, and 6 to 8 year old age groups. Different meta data (e.g., questionnaires, time-activity data, source information), environmental measurements (e.g., with passive badge samplers, grab samples, and real-time electronic monitors), and biological samples (e.g., breast milk, child's urine, saliva) will be collected for each age group. Innovative information technology (IT) devices will be placed in the participants' homes to collect and report questionnaire and time-activity data and to prompt participants to collect environmental and biological samples. Simple devices such as passive monitors, direct read monitors, and electronic sensors will be used to collect pollutant concentration data. The participants will complete questionnaires periodically and be responsible for collecting their environmental and biological samples following prearranged protocols and schedules. Samples will be mailed by the participant to the laboratories for analysis. Study data will be analyzed to determine if participants can reliably collect and return samples for exposure measurements and complete questionnaires on a routine schedule. The study results will be used as input to the design of exposure measurement components of the proposed longitudinal cohort study.
This work was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication. Mention of trade names of commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.