TY - JOUR

T1 - What is required to combine human biomonitoring and health surveys?

AU - Tolonen, Hanna

AU - Moore, Sonja

AU - Lermen, Dominik

AU - Virgolino, Ana

AU - Knudsen, Lisbeth E.

AU - Andersson, Anna Maria

AU - Rambaud, Loïc

AU - Ancona, Carla

AU - Kolossa-Gehring, Marike

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Obtaining holistic information about health and health determinants at the population level should also include data on environmental risk factors of health. So far, only a few countries have combined, at the national level, health and human biomonitoring (HBM) surveys to collect extensive information on health, lifestyles, biological health determinants and environmental exposures. This paper will provide guidelines on how to combine health and HBM surveys and what is the added value of doing so. Health and HBM surveys utilize similar infrastructure and data collection methods including questionnaires, collection and analysis of biological samples, and objective health measurements. There are many overlapping or comparable steps in these two survey types. At the European level, detailed protocols for conducting a health examination survey or HBM study exists separately but there is no protocol for a combined survey available by now. Our recommendations for combined health and HBM surveys focus on a cross-sectional survey on general population aged 6–79 years. To avoid unnecessary participant burden, for the selection of included measurements basic principle would be to ensure that results of the measurements have a public health relevance and clear interpretation. Combining health and HBM surveys into one survey would produce an extensive database for research to support policy decisions in many fields such as public health and chemical regulations. Combined surveys are cost-effective as only one infrastructure is needed to collect information and recruit participants.

AB - Obtaining holistic information about health and health determinants at the population level should also include data on environmental risk factors of health. So far, only a few countries have combined, at the national level, health and human biomonitoring (HBM) surveys to collect extensive information on health, lifestyles, biological health determinants and environmental exposures. This paper will provide guidelines on how to combine health and HBM surveys and what is the added value of doing so. Health and HBM surveys utilize similar infrastructure and data collection methods including questionnaires, collection and analysis of biological samples, and objective health measurements. There are many overlapping or comparable steps in these two survey types. At the European level, detailed protocols for conducting a health examination survey or HBM study exists separately but there is no protocol for a combined survey available by now. Our recommendations for combined health and HBM surveys focus on a cross-sectional survey on general population aged 6–79 years. To avoid unnecessary participant burden, for the selection of included measurements basic principle would be to ensure that results of the measurements have a public health relevance and clear interpretation. Combining health and HBM surveys into one survey would produce an extensive database for research to support policy decisions in many fields such as public health and chemical regulations. Combined surveys are cost-effective as only one infrastructure is needed to collect information and recruit participants.

KW - Biological samples

KW - HBM4EU

KW - Health

KW - Human biomonitoring

KW - Measurement

KW - Population

KW - Questionnaire

KW - Survey

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127114501&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.113964

DO - 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.113964

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35364445

AN - SCOPUS:85127114501

VL - 242

JO - International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health

JF - International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health

SN - 1438-4639

M1 - 113964

ER -