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Uses of NHANES biomarker data for chemical risk assessment: Trends, challenges and opportunities
Citation:
Sobus, J., Rob Dewoskin, C. Tan, J. Pleil, M. Philips, BJ George, K. Christensen, D. Schreinemachers, M. Williams, E. Hubal, AND S. Edwards. Uses of NHANES biomarker data for chemical risk assessment: Trends, challenges and opportunities. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC, 123(10):919-927, (2015).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory’s (NERL’s) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD’s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA’s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Background. Each year, the US NHANES measures hundreds of chemical biomarkers in samples from thousands of study participants. These biomarker measurements are meant to track trends and identify subsets of the US population with elevated exposures. There is now interest in further utilizing the NHANES data to inform chemical risk assessments. Objectives. This article highlights: 1) the extent to which NHANES chemical biomarker data have been evaluated, 2) groups of chemicals that have been studied, 3) data analysis approaches, and 4) opportunities for using these data to inform chemical risk assessments.Methods. A literature search (1999-2013) was performed to identify publications in which NHANES data were reported. Manual curation identified only the subset of publications that clearly utilized chemical biomarker data. This subset was evaluated for chemical groupings, data analysis approaches, and overall trends.Results. A small percentage of yearly NHANES-related publications reported on chemical biomarkers (8% yearly average). Of eleven chemical groups, metals/metalloids were most frequently evaluated (49%), followed by pesticides (9%) and environmental phenols (7%). Studies of multiple chemical groups were also common (8%). Publications linking chemical biomarkers to health metrics have increased dramatically in recent years. New studies are addressing challenges related to NHANES data interpretation in health risk contexts.Conclusions. This article demonstrates growing use of NHANES chemical biomarker data in studies that can impact risk assessments. Best practices for analysis and interpretation must be adopted to allow the full potential of the NHANES to be realized, and defensible decisions based on the data to be made.
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