Exposure assessment for endocrine disruptors: some considerations in the design of studies.
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.
Rice
Carol
C
Environmental and Industrial Hygiene Division, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267, USA. alerdilr@ucmail.uc.edu
Birnbaum
Linda S
LS
Cogliano
James
J
Mahaffey
Kathryn
K
Needham
Larry
L
Rogan
Walter J
WJ
vom Saal
Frederick S
FS
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
D004785:Environmental Pollutants