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Late Neurodevelopmental Effects of Early Exposures to Chemical Contaminants: Reducing Uncertainty in Epidemiological Studies
Author(s) -
Bellinger David C.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
basic and clinical pharmacology and toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1742-7843
pISSN - 1742-7835
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-7843.2007.00164.x
Subject(s) - environmental health , context (archaeology) , epidemiology , environmental science , medicine , biology , pathology , paleontology
Early exposures to environmental chemicals are reliably associated with late neurotoxicities in children. However, substantial scatter of observations exists around the estimated dose–effect relationships. This variability has many potential sources, one of which is interindividual differences in susceptibility. Such differences imply that the long‐term impacts of exposure will not the same for all individuals, but will vary depending on a variety of factors that might either aggravate or mitigate contaminant effects. These include co‐exposures, genetic polymorphisms and characteristics of the social environment. The context dependence of contaminant effects has implications both for study designs and analytical approaches. In addition, a systems approach to understanding the associations among contaminant exposures, covariates and health outcomes is necessary.