Assessing exposure of young children to common endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the home environment: a review and commentary of the questionnaire-based approach.

Abstract

Although infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) exposure, there is an absence of comprehensive exposure data for this age group. As young children spend the majority of their time indoors, improved methods of exposure assessment are needed to characterise the health risks from exposures in the home environment. Biologic assessment, which has been considered the gold standard for exposure assessment in recent years, is difficult to conduct in young children. Questionnaires are an alternative and indirect method of predicting exposure, which may overcome some of the limitations of direct exposure assessment. The feasibility of using a questionnaire-based approach to predict exposure of young children to EDCs in the home has yet to be comprehensively reviewed. Moreover, there is no one questionnaire that has been validated for predicting the exposure of infants to common EDCs in the home. The aim of this review is to discuss the use and validation of the questionnaire-based approach to predict exposure of children to chemicals from three common classes of EDCs in the home, namely, plasticisers, flame retardants, and insecticides. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the questionnaire-based approach as well as the important pathways of exposure in the home environment, by which to guide the design and validation of future exposure questionnaires. The findings from our review indicate that the questionnaire-based approach is a valuable tool in the prediction of exposure to persistent organic pollutants, as well as to toxicants that have consistent patterns of exposure. With improvements to the design and validation process, the questionnaire-based approach may also prove to be a reliable instrument in predicting exposure to EDCs with short-half lives, including bisphenol A, phthalates, and pyrethroid and organophosphate insecticides.