title: A proposal for assessing study quality: Biomonitoring, Environmental Epidemiology, and Short-lived Chemicals (BEES-C) instrument.
abstract: The quality of exposure assessment is a major determinant of the overall quality of any environmental epidemiology study. The use of biomonitoring as a tool for assessing exposure to ubiquitous chemicals with short physiologic half-lives began relatively recently. These chemicals present several challenges, including their presence in analytical laboratories and sampling equipment, difficulty in establishing temporal order in cross-sectional studies, short- and long-term variability in exposures and biomarker concentrations, and a paucity of information on the number of measurements required for proper exposure classification. To date, the scientific community has not developed a set of systematic guidelines for designing, implementing and interpreting studies of short-lived chemicals that use biomonitoring as the exposure metric or for evaluating the quality of this type of research for WOE assessments or for peer review of grants or publications. We describe key issues that affect epidemiology studies using biomonitoring data on short-lived chemicals and propose a systematic instrument--the Biomonitoring, Environmental Epidemiology, and Short-lived Chemicals (BEES-C) instrument--for evaluating the quality of research proposals and studies that incorporate biomonitoring data on short-lived chemicals. Quality criteria for three areas considered fundamental to the evaluation of epidemiology studies that include biological measurements of short-lived chemicals are described: 1) biomarker selection and measurement, 2) study design and execution, and 3) general epidemiological study design considerations. We recognize that the development of an evaluative tool such as BEES-C is neither simple nor non-controversial. We hope and anticipate that the instrument will initiate further discussion/debate on this topic.
authors.affiliation: LaKind Associates, LLC 106 Oakdale Avenue, Catonsville, MD 21228, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Penn State University College of Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, USA. Electronic address: lakindassoc@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Judy S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: LaKind
authors.affiliation: National Exposure Research Laboratory, Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. Electronic address: Sobus.Jon@epa.gov.
authors.forename: Jon R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sobus
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Electronic address: mgoodm2@emory.edu.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, NE, Room 272, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Electronic address: dbbarr@emory.edu.
authors.forename: Dana Boyd
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Barr
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Veterinary Analytical Institute, Münsterland-Emscher-Lippe (CVUA-MEL) Joseph-König-Straße 40, D-48147, Münster D-48151, Germany. Electronic address: Peter.Fuerst@cvua-mel.de.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fürst
authors.affiliation: University of Vermont College of Medicine, P.O. Box 168, Underhill Center, VT 05490, USA. Electronic address: Ralbert315@aol.com.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Albertini
authors.affiliation: Population Studies Division, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., A.L. 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada. Electronic address: Tye.Arbuckle@hc-sc.gc.ca.
authors.forename: Tye E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Arbuckle
authors.affiliation: Environmental Risk and Health Unit, VITO, Industriezone Vlasmeer 7, 2400 Mol, Belgium; University of Antwerp, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Belgium. Electronic address: greet.schoeters@vito.be.
authors.forename: Greet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schoeters
authors.affiliation: National Exposure Research Laboratory, Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. Electronic address: Tan.Cecilia@epa.gov.
authors.forename: Yu-Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, P.O. Box 999, MSIN P7-59, Richland, WA 99352, USA. Electronic address: jt@pnnl.gov.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teeguarden
authors.affiliation: National Exposure Research Laboratory, Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. Electronic address: Tornero-Velez.Rogelio@epa.gov.
authors.forename: Rogelio
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tornero-Velez
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, UMDNJ, 170 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Electronic address: weisel@eohsi.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Clifford P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Weisel
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006207:Half-Life
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004785:Environmental Pollutants
keywords: BEES-C; Biomonitoring; Environmental epidemiology; Evaluation instrument; Short physiologic half-life; Ubiquitous chemicals