Agathokleous Evgenios
Department of Ecology, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Dec 15;852:158273. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158273. Epub 2022 Aug 24.
The evidence for hormetic responses with chemical effects at doses lower than the no-observed-adverse-effect-level (sub-NOAEL) is increasing, creating a need for meta-analyses of sub-NOAEL effects across studies. However, the distinct features of hormetic responses complicate the procedures of meta-analyses aiming to study sub-NOAEL, hormetic effects, and there is no standardized methodology to serve as a guideline. In this piece, a protocol is proposed, which covers the selection of more holistic keywords to be integrated into the literature search queries, the designation of control, and the identification of NOAEL (and thus sub-NOAEL dose responses). It also considers the selection of the response indicators and the incorporation of time and dose as sources of variation. This protocol can serve as a reference point for a harmonized and more robust methodology to meta-analyze sub-NOAEL effects of chemicals on living organisms.
低于未观察到不良反应水平（低于无明显有害作用水平，sub-NOAEL）剂量下化学物质产生 hormetic 反应的证据不断增加，因此需要对各项研究中的低于无明显有害作用水平效应进行荟萃分析。然而，hormetic 反应的独特特征使旨在研究低于无明显有害作用水平、hormetic 效应的荟萃分析程序变得复杂，且尚无标准化方法作为指导原则。在本文中，我们提出了一个方案，该方案涵盖选择更全面的关键词纳入文献检索查询、对照组的设定以及无明显有害作用水平（进而低于无明显有害作用水平剂量反应）的识别。它还考虑了反应指标的选择以及将时间和剂量作为变异来源纳入分析。该方案可作为一种统一且更可靠的方法的参考依据，用于对化学物质对生物体的低于无明显有害作用水平效应进行荟萃分析。
