Unravelling the complexity of environmental exposures and health: A novel exposome-centered framework for occupational and environmental epidemiology

Abstract

The exposome-centered approach marks a significant shift in occupational and environmental epidemiology, prioritizing a holistic evaluation of environmental exposures throughout an individual's life to elucidate their effects on health. Unlike traditional methods that single out environmental factors for their direct health impacts, this approach seeks an integrated analysis of all non-genetic influences, encompassing specific and general external environments and internal responses. While acknowledging environmental factors' pivotal role in chronic diseases and global mortality, existing methods struggle with precisely measuring and analyzing the broad spectrum of exposures and their combined effects. The exposome framework addresses these gaps through advanced omics technologies, refined exposure assessment models, and comprehensive data analytics. Yet, its application faces hurdles like the requirement for substantial infrastructure, cross-disciplinary training, and new statistical techniques for high-dimensional data analysis. Recent endeavors in applying the exposome concept show its promise in improving our understanding of environmental and occupational health, underlining its importance in advancing epidemiological research and public health. This abstract condenses the rationale, challenges, and ongoing efforts to incorporate the exposome into epidemiol-ogical studies, emphasizing its potential in enhancing the field.