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Using evidence mapping to focus and refine the evaluation of reproductive endpoints in a systematic review of PCBs poster
Citation:
Yost, E., X. Arzuaga Andino, L. Carlson, D. Kapraun, A. Keating, AND G. Lehmann. Using evidence mapping to focus and refine the evaluation of reproductive endpoints in a systematic review of PCBs poster. Society of Toxicology, Baltimore, Maryland, March 11 - 14, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
This poster presents a method for triaging endpoints identified in a systematic review, with the goal of focusing the review on the health outcomes identified as most relevant for protecting human health.
Description:
Systematic review will often reveal a wide range of health outcomes associated with exposure to a chemical of interest. This is particularly true for chemicals that have thousands of studies available, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). From a pragmatic perspective, a systematic review of all of these studies is not feasible. In such cases, it may be helpful to focus the systematic review on the outcomes identified as most impactful for protecting public health. Here, we describe the application of evidence mapping as an organizational principle for refining a large and complex database, using animal toxicology studies on the reproductive effects of PCBs as an example. A systematic review of PCB-related health effects identified >400 animal toxicology studies that evaluated reproductive toxicity. These studies were extracted into a literature inventory designed to capture relevant experimental design and health outcome details. The endpoints evaluated in each study were categorized according to type of outcome (e.g. fertility/fecundity, hormone levels, organ weights). To identify the most relevant adverse health outcomes to move forward for further evaluation, major considerations will include the number and types of studies evaluating each outcome, the severity or biological significance of each outcome, and the relative sensitivity of each outcome to PCB exposure. Once the most relevant adverse health outcomes are identified, studies reporting these outcomes can proceed through the systematic review process, where they will undergo study evaluation and further analysis