Harmonizing analytical chemistry and clinical epidemiology for human biomonitoring studies. A case-study of plastic product chemicals in urine

A L Heffernan; M J Gomez-Ramos; C Symeonides; D J Hare; S Vijayasarathy; K Thompson; J F Mueller; A L Ponsonby; P D Sly; BIS Investigator Group

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124631

Harmonizing analytical chemistry and clinical epidemiology for human biomonitoring studies. A case-study of plastic product chemicals in urine

Chemosphere. 2020 Jan:238:124631. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124631. Epub 2019 Aug 23.

Authors

A L Heffernan¹, M J Gomez-Ramos², C Symeonides³, D J Hare⁴, S Vijayasarathy⁵, K Thompson⁵, J F Mueller⁵, A L Ponsonby⁶, P D Sly⁷; BIS Investigator Group

Affiliations

¹ Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: amy.heffernan@uqconnect.edu.au.
² Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, QLD, Australia; Department of Chemistry and Physics, University of Almeria, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence (CeiA3) Almería, 04120, Spain.
³ Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Melbourne Dementia Research Centre, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Department of Clinical Pathology, The University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, QLD, Australia.
⁶ Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia; The Florey Institute of Neuroscience & Mental Health, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁷ Children's Health and Environment Program, The University of Queensland, QLD, Australia.

PMID: 31524608
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124631

Abstract

There is an interdisciplinary interface between analytical chemistry and epidemiology studies with respect to the design, execution, and analysis of environmental epidemiology cohorts and studies. Extracting meaningful results linking chemical exposure to human health outcomes begins at study design and spans the entire workflow. Here we discuss analytical experimental design from an exposure science perspective, and propose a reporting checklist for the design of human biomonitoring studies. We explain key analytical chemistry concepts of blanks and limits of reporting and present a case series of plastic product chemical exposure in prenatal urine specimens from the Barwon Infant Study.

Keywords: Experimental design; Human biomonitoring; Phthalates; Plastic product chemicals (PPCs); Quality control; Specimen banking.

MeSH terms

Benzhydryl Compounds / urine*
Biological Monitoring / methods*
Environmental Exposure / analysis*
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Environmental Pollutants / analysis
Environmental Pollutants / urine*
Epidemiologic Studies
Female
Humans
Phenols / urine*
Phthalic Acids / urine*
Plastics / chemical synthesis
Plastics / chemistry
Pregnancy
Research Design

Substances

Benzhydryl Compounds
Environmental Pollutants
Phenols
Phthalic Acids
Plastics
phthalic acid
bisphenol A