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Exposure indices for the National Children’s Study: application to inhalation exposures in Queens County, NY

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 23, pages 22–31 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Characterization of environmental exposures to population subgroups within the National Children’s Study (NCS), or other large-scale human environmental health studies is essential for developing a high-quality data platform for subsequent investigations. A computational formulation utilizing the tiered exposure ranking framework is presented for calculating inhalation exposure indices (EIs) for population subgroups. This formulation employs a probabilistic approach and combines information from diverse, publicly available exposure-relevant databases and information on biological mechanisms, for ranking study locations or population subgroups with respect to potential for specific end point-related environmental exposures. These EIs capture and summarize, within a set of numerical values/ranges, complex distributions of potential exposures to multiple airborne contaminants. These estimates capture spatial and demographic variability within each study segment, and allow for the relative comparison of study locations based on different statistical metrics of exposures. The EI formulation was applied to characterize and rank segments within Queens County, NY, which is one of the Vanguard centers for the NCS. Inhalation EI estimates relevant to respiratory outcomes, and potentially to pregnancy outcomes (low birth weight and preterm birth rates) were calculated at the study segment level. Results indicate that there is substantial variability across the study segments in Queens County, NY, and within segments, and showed an exposure gradient across the study segments that can help guide and target environmental and personal exposure sampling efforts in this county. The results also serve as an example application of the EI for use in other exposure and outcome studies.

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Acknowledgements

Support for the work presented here is provided by the National Children’s Study Queens Vanguard Center, which is funded in whole or in part by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, under Contract Number 0258-325-4609. Further support is provided by the NIEHS sponsored UMDNJ Center for Environmental Exposures and Disease, under Grant Number NIEHS P30ES005022. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental & Occupational Health Science Institute, EOHSI, 170 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, USA, 08854, New Jersey

    Sastry S Isukapalli, Christopher J Brinkerhoff, Shu Xu, Paul J Lioy & Panos G Georgopoulos

  2. National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, NICHD, 6100 Executive Blvd Room 5C01, MSC 7510, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7510, USA,

    Michael Dellarco

  3. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 17 East 102 Street, New York, 10029, New York, USA

    Philip J Landrigan

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  1. Sastry S Isukapalli
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  2. Christopher J Brinkerhoff
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  3. Shu Xu
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  4. Michael Dellarco
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  5. Philip J Landrigan
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  7. Panos G Georgopoulos
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Correspondence to Paul J Lioy.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology website

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Isukapalli, S., Brinkerhoff, C., Xu, S. et al. Exposure indices for the National Children’s Study: application to inhalation exposures in Queens County, NY. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 23, 22–31 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2012.99

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