Abstract
BackgroundAggregate exposure, the combined exposures to a single chemical from all pathways, is a critical children’s health issue.ObjectiveThe primary objective is to develop a tool to illustrate potential differences in aggregate exposure at various childhood lifestages and the adult lifestage.MethodsWe developed ExpoKids (an R-based tool) using oral exposure estimates across lifestages generated by US EPA’s Exposure Factors Interactive Resource for Scenarios Tool (ExpoFIRST).ResultsExpoKids is applied to illustrate aggregate oral exposure, for ten media, as average daily doses (ADD) and lifetime average daily doses (LADD) in five graphs organized across seven postnatal childhood lifestages and the adult lifestage. This data visualization tool conveys ExpoFIRST findings, from available exposure data, to highlight the relative contributions of media and lifestages to chemical exposure. To evaluate the effectiveness of ExpoKids, three chemical case examples (di[2-ethylhexyl] phthalate [DEHP], manganese, and endosulfan) were explored. Data available from the published literature and databases for each case example were used to explore research questions regarding media and lifestage contributions to aggregate exposure.SignificanceThese illustrative case examples demonstrate ExpoKids’ versatile application to explore a diverse set of children’s health risk assessment and management questions by visually depicting specific media and lifestage contributions to aggregate exposure.
Highlights
Aggregate exposure assessments evaluate the combined exposures to a single chemical across multiple routes
lifetime average daily doses (LADD) graphs are useful for visualizing the relative average daily dose of each lifestage
In exploring publicly available tools, ExpoKids is the only identified exposure assessment tool that depicts aggregate exposure to any chemical for multiple lifestages using this set of illustrative comparative graphs
Summary
Aggregate exposure assessments are often important in children’s health risk assessments because children’s unique behaviors and physiology can alter chemical exposure rates across different media, routes, and lifestages relative to the adult lifestage. Relative to adults, children exhibit increased susceptibility to some chemical exposures during development, defined as a series of temporally and spatially orchestrated events from zygote implantation to completion of puberty [1,2,3]. The combined exposures to a single chemical from all pathways, is a critical children’s health issue
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