Improving Exposure Assessment Methodologies for Epidemiological Studies on Pesticides: Study Protocol

Area of Science:

• Environmental Epidemiology
• Exposure Science
• Toxicology

Background:

• Pesticide exposure is linked to chronic diseases, necessitating accurate historical exposure assessment.
• Self-reported data, often used for historical pesticide exposure assessment, has limitations.
• Understanding the performance of these surrogate measures is crucial for risk evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• The IMPRESS project aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of surrogate measures for pesticide exposure assessment.
• It will assess recall bias in self-reported pesticide exposure data.
• The project seeks to improve epidemiological estimates of pesticide-health effects.

Main Methods:

• Recruiting participants from existing epidemiological cohorts in Malaysia, Uganda, and the UK.
• Reinterviewing participants using amended questionnaires and collecting urine samples for pesticide metabolite analysis.
• Evaluating pesticide exposure recall over different time periods (<2, 6-12, >15 years) and assessing biomonitoring results against algorithmic exposure assessment.

Main Results:

• Project funded in 2017, with enrollment and sample collection completed in Malaysia (2019) and ongoing in Uganda and the UK.
• Sample and data analysis planned for 2020, with first results anticipated in 2021.
• Results will inform the accuracy of current exposure assessment algorithms.

Conclusions:

• The study will assess the consistency of questionnaire data and accuracy of pesticide exposure algorithms.
• Findings will guide amendments to improve pesticide exposure data capture in future epidemiological studies.
• This will enhance the reliability of exposure-disease association studies.