Principal Investigator
2400 Mol
Belgium
Tel: +32 14 33 52 00
Collaborators
Holger M. Koch, Jürgen Angerer, Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance Institute of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (IPA), DE, koch@ipa-dguv.de
Description
In many large-scale human biomonitoring (HBM) surveys, single samples of blood, urine or other bodily matrices are collected from large numbers of individuals recruited from the general population. These HBM surveys aim to obtain information on the distribution of exposures in the population, the comparison of different subgroups or the identification of high exposure groups. Biomarker data are also related to potential exposure sources and exposure pathways, other studies attempt to correlate biomarkers with biological effect and health data. The single sample analyses capture the variability of internal dose in the population, without however disentangling the variability due to variation between individuals or within an individual. It is often not documented to what extend the individual variability fluctuates compared to the between-subject variability. This may lead to misclassification of individuals with high/low exposures and is of particular concern if the exposure pattern is discontinuous and the compounds have a short half life in the biological matrix.
Using a combination of existing biomarker data, toxicokinetic modelling and newly generated biomarker analysis tailored to this problem, the project will determine the most important drivers affecting the representativeness of single biomarker samples for assessing an individual’s internal dose, and will, if necessary, identify which aspects of HBM survey sampling need to be improved in order to better understand the relationship between inter-and intra-individual variation in biomarker values.
The objectives of this project are threefold:
- To identify the key determinants influencing how representative a spot sample is of longer-term average biomarker levels within individuals;
- Development of an easy to use software tool to assist interpretation of studies utilising single human biomonitoring samples in terms of exposure; and
- Where appropriate, to propose alternative sampling schemes that provide more representative measures of longer term average exposures for individuals and populations.
Click here to read the Executive Summary.
Related Publications
Publications:
Aylward LL, Hays SM, Smolders R, Koch HM, Cocker J, Jones K, Warren N, Levy L, Bevan R. Sources of variability in biomarker concentrations. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev. 2014;17(1):45-61.
Posters:
Smolders R, Warren N, McNally K, Cocker J, Aylward L, Hays S, Kirman C, Levy L, Bevan R, Koch HM, Angerer J, Schoeters G. Understanding inter- and intra-individual variability in HBM spot samples. Cefic-LRI 14th Annual Workshop, November 2012, Brussels, Belgium.
Presentations:
Roel Smolders. HBM4: Representativeness of a single biomonitoring sample. Cefic-LRI 16th Annual Workshop, November 2014, Brussels, Belgium.
