Models of human exposure based on environmental monitoring

The relevant exposure to environmental pollutants or relevant confounders can virtually never be measured directly in sufficient detail in a sufficient number of people included in an epidemiological study. Instead, surrogate indicators of exposure are used that are implicitly or explicitly linked b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science of the total environment 1995-06, Vol.168 (2), p.179-185
Main Author: Lebret, Erik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Coefficient of alienation
Environmental Exposure
Environmental Monitoring
Environmental pollutants toxicology
Forecasting efficiency
General aspects
Human exposure model
Humans
Medical sciences
Proportional Hazards Models
Toxicology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The relevant exposure to environmental pollutants or relevant confounders can virtually never be measured directly in sufficient detail in a sufficient number of people included in an epidemiological study. Instead, surrogate indicators of exposure are used that are implicitly or explicitly linked by (conceptual) models to the ‘relevant exposure’. Using specified indices (e.g., the coefficient of alienation and forecasting efficiency), the models of different forms can be compared and tested in special investigations. This can evaluate the criterion validity of the model through analysis of the agreement between the model estimates, based on measured surrogate indicators of the exposure, and the actual exposure. The perspective on the construct under study may further change the validity of the exposure indicator. Therefore, sub-studies evaluating the quality of exposure indicators should be considered as integral part of any study in environmental epidemiology, preferably as a pre-study or pilot study.
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/0048-9697(95)04622-8