title: Exposure assessment for endocrine disruptors: some considerations in the design of studies.
abstract: In studies designed to evaluate exposure-response relationships in children's development from conception through puberty, multiple factors that affect the generation of meaningful exposure metrics must be considered. These factors include multiple routes of exposure; the timing, frequency, and duration of exposure; need for qualitative and quantitative data; sample collection and storage protocols; and the selection and documentation of analytic methods. The methods for exposure data collection and analysis must be sufficiently robust to accommodate the a priori hypotheses to be tested, as well as hypotheses generated from the data. A number of issues that must be considered in study design are summarized here.
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Industrial Hygiene Division, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267, USA. alerdilr@ucmail.uc.edu
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.forename: Linda S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Birnbaum
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cogliano
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mahaffey
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Needham
authors.forename: Walter J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Rogan
authors.forename: Frederick S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: vom Saal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004703:Endocrine System / Q000187:drug effects*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011627:Puberty; D012107:Research Design
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants