Report on ongoing activities and existing data and data gaps for the 1st prioritised substances including a list of metadata that can be uploaded in IPCheM

Abstract

Human biomonitoring is a well-established field of research with high rate of scientific production. Still, there is a lack of integrated information required for the production of adequate knowledge in this area. In this context, the development of suitable methods for systematic mapping of available evidence and identification of research gaps is needed. The main aim of Task 7.1 was to identify existing data and data gaps on the area of human biomonitoring (HBM), including biobank samples. To answer to this aim, a triangulation of methods was used, including an online questionnaire and literature reviews covering available published scientific papers (traditional academic research) and books of proceedings of HBM-related conferences containing published and non-published data. For the questionnaire data, descriptive analyses and stratification by European-defined region, target population and groups of substances were performed. For the literature reviews, a systematisation of the search, review and interpretation process of the data was recorded, with the data from each selected paper being extracted into a synoptic table. The use of three different approaches provided comprehensive though complementary information on the existing HBM surveys: Considering the data obtained from the questionnaire, an asymmetry was found in terms of countries/regions where the identified studies on HBM have been developed, with Belgium, Italy and Spain being the countries where the data collection occurred more frequently. This might reflect an under-representation in the studies carried by specific countries, a trend that was verified throughout the three approaches used. Although maintaining the abovementioned asymmetry, the results change when considering the studies identified using the other two approaches: for the studies from the literature review, data was mainly collected in Denmark and Norway, while for the review of the books of proceedings data was predominantly collected in Germany, France and United Kingdom. Most of the reported studies identified with the questionnaire and the review of the books of proceedings had a regional or national scope while studies from the literature review had mainly a regional implementation level. Although the majority of the studies identified with the three approaches were already concluded or initiated/ongoing, it was possible to map projects in their planning stage (which was also verified in the stratified analysis by European-defined region). The majority of the work that has been developed in the HBM area relates to cross-sectional and longitudinal studies as seen in the results from the questionnaire. The other two approaches also pointed into the direction of the majority of studies being concluded. Children and adults are the main target population of the studies/projects/activities identified with the questionnaire. The analyses of the nine groups of substances under study revealed differences in terms of the number of projects dedicated to each substance, being most marked the absence of studies focused on the anilin family reported through the questionnaire as well as very few studies on Cr VI and emerging chemicals. The undertaken literature reviews did not provide an additional understanding of this difference. An analysis of data collected with the questionnaire by European-defined region reveals that in the North and East, the most studied substances were phthalates/DINCH, whereas in the West and South was cadmium. Considering the groups of substances distributed by European-defined region, age groups and status of the studies/projects/activities undertaken in the community (general population), the following was found: the reported studies were mostly concluded, the majority of them had adults and children as target population, cadmium as the main substance under study, and they were mostly conducted in Southern and Western regions of Europe. For the studies/projects/activities reported as having a national representativeness level, the majority involved children and newborns. In studies with children, the most analysed substances were cadmium, flame retardants, bisphenols and phthalates. For those studies with newborns, the main substances under study were flame retardants. In both cases, these studies were mostly conducted in Western Europe. Considering the results of the survey, it was possible to verify that there is a variety of biological samples collected, with many projects having several of those samples stored and some of them available for access and/or use by other researchers/organisations. Analyses of the studies/projects/activities (general population) with urine samples and blood by group of substances and regions and age groups, the largest number of studies report to data collected from Western and Northern regions. Concerning the target population and substances under study, the focus is put on children and phthalates, respectively. Information about several biomarkers, HBM samples and clinical parameters, anthropometric data, physiological indicators, outdoor pollution and occupational exposure has been collected with the questionnaire. As for biobanked samples, the majority of the projects allow (partial) access to the database of non-biological data and have available for theHBM4EU partners the questionnaire used for data collection. The concept of “quality criteria” to classify the studies/projects/activities identified with the questionnaire was altered to “criteria that index a level of evidence” given the fact that there is a pre-assumption that all projects have internal validity and, therefore, quality. For building up overall pictures about collected data and information it is more important to know how potentially strong is the collected (or to be collected) evidence. An overarching appreciation of the potentially produced (or to be produced) evidence by each study/project/activity found through the survey revealed that almost half of them have characteristics that can be of high or very high level. A list of metadata available to be uploaded into IPCheM is suggested, being nearly 20% of the data accessible for use. For European representative studies, a deeper data analysis of the data gaps will be done by VITO in WP 10 and Task 7.2. The categorisation of the single compounds into the categories A-C is not addressed in this report and will be done by the CGLs under task 4.4 scoping documents. In conclusion, with the developed work for this task an important basis to inform further research needs in this realm and to contribute to more targeted policy measures was laid, thus contributing to the overarching HBM4EU goal of generating knowledge to inform the safe management of chemicals and so protect human health.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 733032.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio