Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology 

About: Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology is an academic journal published by Nature Portfolio. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Environmental exposure & Population. It has an ISSN identifier of 1559-0631. Over the lifetime, 2155 publications have been published receiving 81835 citations. The journal is also known as: JESEE & Journal of exposure science and environmental epidemiology.

The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants.

Abstract: Because human activities impact the timing, location, and degree of pollutant exposure, they play a key role in explaining exposure variation. This fact has motivated the collection of activity pattern data for their specific use in exposure assessments. The largest of these recent efforts is the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS), a 2-year probability-based telephone survey ( n=9386) of exposure-related human activities in the United States (U.S.) sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The primary purpose of NHAPS was to provide comprehensive and current exposure information over broad geographical and temporal scales, particularly for use in probabilistic population exposure models. NHAPS was conducted on a virtually daily basis from late September 1992 through September 1994 by the University of Maryland's Survey Research Center using a computer-assisted telephone interview instrument (CATI) to collect 24-h retrospective diaries and answers to a number of personal and exposure-related questions from each respondent. The resulting diary records contain beginning and ending times for each distinct combination of location and activity occurring on the diary day (i.e., each microenvironment). Between 340 and 1713 respondents of all ages were interviewed in each of the 10 EPA regions across the 48 contiguous states. Interviews were completed in 63% of the households contacted. NHAPS respondents reported spending an average of 87% of their time in enclosed buildings and about 6% of their time in enclosed vehicles. These proportions are fairly constant across the various regions of the U.S. and Canada and for the California population between the late 1980s, when the California Air Resources Board (CARB) sponsored a state-wide activity pattern study, and the mid-1990s, when NHAPS was conducted. However, the number of people exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in California seems to have decreased over the same time period, where exposure is determined by the reported time spent with a smoker. In both California and the entire nation, the most time spent exposed to ETS was reported to take place in residential locations.

A review and evaluation of intraurban air pollution exposure models

Abstract: The development of models to assess air pollution exposures within cities for assignment to subjects in health studies has been identified as a priority area for future research. This paper reviews models for assessing intraurban exposure under six classes, including: (i) proximity-based assessments, (ii) statistical interpolation, (iii) land use regression models, (iv) line dispersion models, (v) integrated emission-meteorological models, and (vi) hybrid models combining personal or household exposure monitoring with one of the preceding methods. We enrich this review of the modelling procedures and results with applied examples from Hamilton, Canada. In addition, we qualitatively evaluate the models based on key criteria important to health effects assessment research. Hybrid models appear well suited to overcoming the problem of achieving population representative samples while understanding the role of exposure variation at the individual level. Remote sensing and activity-space analysis will complement refinements in pre-existing methods, and with expected advances, the field of exposure assessment may help to reduce scientific uncertainties that now impede policy intervention aimed at protecting public health.

A review of the pathways of human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and present understanding of health effects

Abstract: Here, we review present understanding of sources and trends in human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and epidemiologic evidence for impacts on cancer, immune function, metabolic outcomes, and neurodevelopment. More than 4000 PFASs have been manufactured by humans and hundreds have been detected in environmental samples. Direct exposures due to use in products can be quickly phased out by shifts in chemical production but exposures driven by PFAS accumulation in the ocean and marine food chains and contamination of groundwater persist over long timescales. Serum concentrations of legacy PFASs in humans are declining globally but total exposures to newer PFASs and precursor compounds have not been well characterized. Human exposures to legacy PFASs from seafood and drinking water are stable or increasing in many regions, suggesting observed declines reflect phase-outs in legacy PFAS use in consumer products. Many regions globally are continuing to discover PFAS contaminated sites from aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) use, particularly next to airports and military bases. Exposures from food packaging and indoor environments are uncertain due to a rapidly changing chemical landscape where legacy PFASs have been replaced by diverse precursors and custom molecules that are difficult to detect. Multiple studies find significant associations between PFAS exposure and adverse immune outcomes in children. Dyslipidemia is the strongest metabolic outcome associated with PFAS exposure. Evidence for cancer is limited to manufacturing locations with extremely high exposures and insufficient data are available to characterize impacts of PFAS exposures on neurodevelopment. Preliminary evidence suggests significant health effects associated with exposures to emerging PFASs. Lessons learned from legacy PFASs indicate that limited data should not be used as a justification to delay risk mitigation actions for replacement PFASs.

It's about time: A comparison of Canadian and American time–activity patterns

Abstract: This study compares two North American time-activity data bases: the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) of 9386 interviewees in 1992-1994 in the continental USA with the Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey (CHAPS) of 2381 interviewees in 1996-1997 in four major Canadian cities. Identical surveys and methodology were used to collect this data: random sample telephone selection within the identified telephone exchanges, computer-assisted telephone interviews, overselection of children and weekends in the 24-h recall diary and the same interviewers. Very similar response rates were obtained: 63% (NHAPS) and 64.5% (CHAPS). Results of comparisons by age within major activity and location groups suggest activity and location patterns are very similar (most differences being less than 1% or 14 min in a 24-h day) with the exception of seasonal differences. Canadians spend less time outdoors in winter and less time indoors in summer than their U.S. counterparts. When exposure assessments use time of year or outdoor/indoor exposure gradients, these differences may result in significant differences in exposure assessments. Otherwise, the 24-h time activity patterns of North Americans are remarkably similar and use of the combined data set for some exposure assessments may be feasible.

Exposure of Americans to polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

Abstract: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, PBDEs, are a class of brominated flame retardants that, like other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), have been found in humans, wildlife, and biota worldwide. Unlike other POPs, however, the key routes of human exposure are not thought to be food and fish, but rather are from their use in household consumer products, and to the high levels of PBDEs found in house dust. The exposure of Americans to PBDEs was systematically evaluated in this study. First, exposure media data on PBDE congeners were compiled. Then, an adult intake dose was derived using exposure factors in combination with these data. The exposure pathways evaluated included food and water ingestion, inhalation, and ingestion and dermal contact to house dust. These intakes were converted to a body burden using a simple pharmacokinetic (PK) model. The predicted body burdens were compared with representative profiles of PBDEs in blood and milk. The adult intake dose of total PBDEs was estimated to be 7.7 ng/kg body weight/day, and children's estimated intakes were higher at 49.3 ng/kg/day for ages 1–5, 14.4 ng/kg/day for 6–11, and 9.1 ng/kg/day for 12–19. The much higher dose for the child age 1–5 was due to the doubling of dust ingestion from 50 to 100 mg/day. The predicted adult body burden of total PBDEs was 33.8 ng/kg lipid weight (lwt), compared to representative measurements in blood and milk at 64.0 and 93.7 ng/g lwt, respectively Most of this apparent underprediction in total concentration was due to an underprediction of the key congener, BDE 47. The value for BDE 47 half-life in the body was identified as the variable most likely in error in this exercise. Other congener predictions compared well with measurements, suggesting general validity with the approach. An important finding from this assessment is that the food intake estimate of about 1.3 ng/kg/day (of the 7.7 ng/kg/day total) cannot explain current US body burdens; exposures to PBDEs in house dust accounted for 82% of the overall estimated intakes.