Challenges to Evidence Synthesis and Identification of Data Gaps in Human Biomonitoring

Ana Virgolino, Osvaldo Santos, Joana Costa, Mónica Fialho, Ivo Iavicoli, Tiina Santonen, Hanna Tolonen, Evangelia Samoli, Klea Katsouyanni, Georgios Baltatzis, Flavia Ruggieri, Annalisa Abballe, Ida Petrovičová, Branislav Kolena, Miroslava Šidlovská, Carla Ancona, Ivan Eržen, Ovnair Sepai, Argelia Castaño, Marike Kolossa-Gehring and Ulrike Fiddicke
Additional contact information
Ana Virgolino: Environmental Health Behaviour Lab, Instituto de Saúde Ambiental, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
Osvaldo Santos: Environmental Health Behaviour Lab, Instituto de Saúde Ambiental, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
Joana Costa: Environmental Health Behaviour Lab, Instituto de Saúde Ambiental, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
Mónica Fialho: Environmental Health Behaviour Lab, Instituto de Saúde Ambiental, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
Ivo Iavicoli: Department of Public Health, University of Naples Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy
Tiina Santonen: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, 00032 Työterveyslaitos, Finland
Hanna Tolonen: Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), 00300 Helsinki, Finland
Evangelia Samoli: Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece
Klea Katsouyanni: Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece
Georgios Baltatzis: Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece
Flavia Ruggieri: Department of Environment and Health, National Institute for Health, 00161 Rome, Italy
Annalisa Abballe: Department of Environment and Health, National Institute for Health, 00161 Rome, Italy
Ida Petrovičová: Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia
Branislav Kolena: Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia
Miroslava Šidlovská: Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia
Carla Ancona: Department of Epidemiology, Local Health Authority Rome E, 00147 Rome, Italy
Ivan Eržen: Public Health School, National Institute of Public Health, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ovnair Sepai: Public Health England, Harwell Campus, Chilton, Didcot OX 11 0RQ, UK
Argelia Castaño: CNSA, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28220 Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
Marike Kolossa-Gehring: German Environment Agency, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Ulrike Fiddicke: German Environment Agency, 14195 Berlin, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-11

Abstract: The increasing number of human biomonitoring (HBM) studies undertaken in recent decades has brought to light the need to harmonise procedures along all phases of the study, including sampling, data collection and analytical methods to allow data comparability. The first steps towards harmonisation are the identification and collation of HBM methodological information of existing studies and data gaps. Systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses have been traditionally put at the top of the hierarchy of evidence, being increasingly applied to map available evidence on health risks linked to exposure to chemicals. However, these methods mainly capture peer-reviewed articles, failing to comprehensively identify other important, unpublished sources of information that are pivotal to gather a complete map of the produced evidence in the area of HBM. Within the framework of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) initiative—a project that joins 30 countries, 29 from Europe plus Israel, the European Environment Agency and the European Commission—a comprehensive work of data triangulation has been made to identify existing HBM studies and data gaps across countries within the consortium. The use of documentary analysis together with an up-to-date platform to fulfil this need and its implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords: HBM4EU; human biomonitoring; environmental health; data triangulation; harmonisation procedures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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