Question

As described in Chapter 8, exposure assessment is a key part of any environmental epidemiology research. How would you measure exposure to nature? What is a "dose" of nature? 100 word minimum

Answer 1

Environmental epidemiology attempts to determine whether a hazard exists—that is, whether there is a causal relation between exposure to certain chemical or physical agents and adverse health effects—and to measure any such relations.

Potential dose is the amount of the chemical ingested, inhaled, or in material applied to the skin.

Applied dose is the amount of a chemical that is absorbed or deposited in the body of an exposed organism.

Internal dose is the amount of a chemical that is absorbed into the body and available for interaction with biologically significant molecular targets.

Biologically effective dose is the amount of a chemical that has interacted with a target site over a given period so as to alter a physiologic function.

Direct measurement of exposure (personal monitoring, biologic monitoring, and biomarkers); indirect measures (microenvironmental monitoring coupled with exposure models, where microenvironmental monitoring is defined as the monitoring of contaminant concentrations in locations or media in which exposure occurs); that include mathematical modeling, questionnaire/diaries, or spatial factors, e.g., residence in a country or region or distance from a source of chemical contamination.

When direct measurement of exposure is possible, it generally provides more-accurate information than indirect assessment of a particular individual's contact with a specific contaminant over time.