Cui Yuxia, Eccles Kristin M, Kwok Richard K, Joubert Bonnie R, Messier Kyle P, Balshaw David M
Division of Extramural Research and Training, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Durham, NC 27709, USA.
Division of the National Toxicology Program, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Durham, NC 27709, USA.
Toxics. 2022 Jul 20;10(7):403. doi: 10.3390/toxics10070403.
Quantifying the exposome is key to understanding how the environment impacts human health and disease. However, accurately, and cost-effectively quantifying exposure in large population health studies remains a major challenge. Geospatial technologies offer one mechanism to integrate high-dimensional environmental data into epidemiology studies, but can present several challenges. In June 2021, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) held a workshop bringing together experts in exposure science, geospatial technologies, data science and population health to address the need for integrating multiscale geospatial environmental data into large population health studies. The primary objectives of the workshop were to highlight recent applications of geospatial technologies to examine the relationships between environmental exposures and health outcomes; identify research gaps and discuss future directions for exposure modeling, data integration and data analysis strategies; and facilitate communications and collaborations across geospatial and population health experts. This commentary provides a high-level overview of the scientific topics covered by the workshop and themes that emerged as areas for future work, including reducing measurement errors and uncertainty in exposure estimates, and improving data accessibility, data interoperability, and computational approaches for more effective multiscale and multi-source data integration, along with potential solutions.
量化暴露组是理解环境如何影响人类健康和疾病的关键。然而，在大型人群健康研究中准确且经济高效地量化暴露仍然是一项重大挑战。地理空间技术提供了一种将高维环境数据整合到流行病学研究中的机制，但也可能带来一些挑战。2021年6月，美国国家环境健康科学研究所（NIEHS）举办了一次研讨会，汇聚了暴露科学、地理空间技术、数据科学和人群健康领域的专家，以满足将多尺度地理空间环境数据整合到大型人群健康研究中的需求。该研讨会的主要目标是突出地理空间技术在研究环境暴露与健康结果之间关系方面的最新应用；识别研究差距并讨论暴露建模、数据整合和数据分析策略的未来方向；促进地理空间和人群健康专家之间的交流与合作。本评论对研讨会涵盖的科学主题以及作为未来工作领域出现的主题进行了高层次概述，包括减少暴露估计中的测量误差和不确定性，以及提高数据可及性、数据互操作性和计算方法，以实现更有效的多尺度和多源数据整合，同时还提出了潜在的解决方案。
