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Journal Article Ppublish 9 citations

PubMed: 38550543 DOI: 10.1093/exposome/osad009

Community-level exposomics: a population-centered approach to address public health concerns.

Exposome 3(1)

Authors: Jeanette A Stingone, Andrew M Geller, Darryl B Hood, Konstantinos C Makris, Charles P Mouton, J Christopher States, Susan J Sumner, K Lily Wu, Arcot K Rajasekar

Affiliations

  • Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA.
  • Office of Research and Development, Environmental Protection Agency, RTP, NC, USA.
  • Division of Environmental Health Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
  • Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
  • Department of Family Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, TX, USA.
  • Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA.
  • Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
  • California Environmental Protection Agency-Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Sacramento, CA, USA.
  • School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Abstract

Environmental factors affecting health and vulnerability far outweigh genetics in accounting for disparities in health status and longevity in US communities. The concept of the exposome, the totality of exposure from conception onwards, provides a paradigm for researchers to investigate the complex role of the environment on the health of individuals. We propose a complementary framework, community-level exposomics, for population-level exposome assessment. The goal is to bring the exposome paradigm to research and practice on the health of populations, defined by various axes including geographic, social, and occupational. This framework includes the integration of community-level measures of the built, natural and social environments, environmental pollution-derived from conventional and community science approaches, internal markers of exposure that can be measured at the population-level and early responses associated with health status that can be tracked using population-based monitoring. Primary challenges to the implementation of the proposed framework include needed advancements in population-level measurement, lack of existing models with the capability to produce interpretable and actionable evidence and the ethical considerations of labeling geographically-bound populations by exposomic profiles. To address these challenges, we propose a set of recommendations that begin with greater engagement with and empowerment of affected communities and targeted investment in community-based solutions. Applications to urban settings and disaster epidemiology are discussed as examples for implementation.

MeSH

Health Status, Public Health, Environmental Pollution, Research, Environment, Exposome

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