Background: The detection of a local per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pollution hotspot in Zwijndrecht (Belgium) necessitated immediate action to address health concerns of the local community. Several human biomonitoring (HBM) studies were initiated, gathering cross-sectional exposure data from more than 10,000 participants. The linkage of these HBM data with primary care health registries might be a useful new tool in environmental health analysis.

Aim: We assessed the feasibility of linking exposure data from HBM programs to health outcomes from the Intego registry, which collects data from general practitioners' electronic health records. This feasibility study uses exposure data from one of the completed PFAS HBM studies, which included 796 individuals. We describe the separate datasets, the process of integrating the HBM data into Intego, the analysis plan and the advantages and challenges of using this method.

Results: We established the integration of HBM data into the Intego primary care morbidity database, adhering to stringent privacy regulations and quality standards to ensure result integrity. Because of the modest sample size used in this feasibility study, no conclusions about the impact of PFAS on health endpoints can be drawn. However, with PFAS data from more than 10,000 residents available soon, more robust studies will be possible with this new method.

Interpretation: We introduce a novel approach for assessing the impact of environmental health hazards within primary care settings. The methods outlined here not only pave the way for larger-scale projects but also offer a promising avenue for long-term environmental health monitoring.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12940-024-01152-5DOI Listing
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11700452PMC

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

exposure data
16
primary care
16
feasibility study
12
hbm data
12
environmental health
12
data
9
human biomonitoring
8
data primary
8
care morbidity
8
morbidity database
8

Similar Publications

Background: Archetypes are representations of a group of people with shared behaviors, attitudes, and characteristics. The design and use of archetypes have potential application to increase partnership and support when embedding and scaling interventions but methodological approaches have not been developed.

Objective: To describe the methodology of designing archetypes for use in a pragmatic trial of advance care planning in the primary care context, SHARING Choices ((NCT04819191).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Weight stigma is pervasive, and it has a significant impact on the social, physical, and psychological health of an individual. Weight stigma is observed from several different sources. Therefore, the present study developed and validated a new instrument, the Weight Stigma Exposure Inventory (WeSEI), to assess different sources of observed weight stigma across interpersonal and non-interpersonal sources.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: "Active" heat acclimation (exercise-in-the-heat) can improve exercise performance but the efficacy of "passive" heat acclimation using post-exercise heat exposure is unclear. Therefore, we synthesised a systematic review and meta-analysis to answer whether post-exercise heat exposure improves exercise performance.

Methods: Five databases were searched to identify studies including: (i) healthy adults; (ii) an exercise training intervention with post-exercise heat exposure via sauna or hot water immersion (treatment group); (iii) a non-heat exposure control group completing the same training; and (iv) outcomes measuring exercise performance in the heat (primary outcome), or performance in thermoneutral conditions, V̇Omax, lactate threshold, economy, heart rate, RPE, core temperature, sweat rate, and thermal sensations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cancer-targeted therapies are progressively pivotal in oncological care. Observational studies underscore the emergence of cancer therapy-related cardiovascular toxicity (CTR-CVT), impacting patient outcomes. We aimed to investigate the causal relationship between different types of cancer-targeted therapies and cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes through a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Barriers to cervical cancer screening among immigrant Yemeni women in Malaysia.

BMC Cancer

January 2025

Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Taiz University, Taiz, 6803, Yemen.

Background: Cervical cancer is preventable cancer through pap test screening. Despite the benefits of cervical cancer screening, immigrant women have markedly lower use of Pap smear testing. Hence, this study aims to determine the barriers to cervical cancer screening among Yemeni female immigrants in Malaysia and the factors related to these barriers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!