HBM4EU Feasibility Studies: Lessons Learned in Combining Health and Human Biomonitoring Studies

22 Pages Posted: 26 Sep 2022

See all articles by Hanna Maria Elonheimo

Hanna Maria Elonheimo

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Department of Public Health and Welfare

Karoliina Uusitalo

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Department of Public Health and Welfare

Sonja Moore

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Department of Public Health and Welfare

Anna-Maria Andersson

University of Copenhagen - Department of Growth and Reproduction

Ronny Baber

University of Leipzig - Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics

Kerstin Wirkner

Leipzig University

Madlen David

German Environment Agency (UBA)

Marike Kolossa-Gehring

German Environment Agency (UBA)

Lorraine Stewart

UK Health Security Agency

Ovnair Sepai

UK Health Security Agency

Dominik Lermen

Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT

Martina Bartel-Steinbach

Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT

Panu Rantakokko

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)

Jani Koponen

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)

Hanna Tolonen

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Department of Public Health and Welfare

Abstract

Background: The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) is a joint program evaluating humans´ exposure to several environmental substances and their potential health effects. One of the main objectives of HBM4EU is to make use of human biomonitoring (HBM) to assess human exposure to chemicals in Europe to better understand the associated health impacts and to improve chemical risk assessment. In parallel to HBM studies, health examination surveys (HESs), nutrition/dietary surveys, and disease specific health surveys are conducted in many European countries. In HESs, information collected by questionnaire(s) is supplemented with physical examinations and analysis of clinical and biological biomarkers in biological samples. HBM and health examination survey (HES) use similar data collection methods and infrastructures hence the feasibility of combining these two is explored in this paper.

Methods: Within HBM4EU, three feasibility studies (in Finland, Germany, and UK/England) were conducted to evaluate opportunities and obstacles of combining HBM and health studies. In this paper we report lessons learned from these feasibility studies.

Results: Benefits of combining HBM and HESs include the use of shared infrastructures. Furthermore, participants can receive additional health information from HES, and participation rates tend to be higher due to the potential to obtain personal health information. Preparatory phases including obtaining ethical approval can be time-consuming and complicated. Recruitment of participants and low participation rates are common concerns in survey research and therefore designing user-friendly questionnaires with low participant burden is important. Unexpected events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can cause substantial challenges and delays for such studies. Furthermore, experiences from several countries demonstrated that long-term funding for combined studies can be difficult to obtain.

Conclusions: In the future, incorporating HBM modules into existing HESs can provide a feasible and cost-effective method to conduct HBM studies and obtain a wide range of relevant data to support public health policies and research.

Note:
Funding Information: HBM4EU has received funding from EU/Horizon 2020 Programme Contract No. 733032 HBM4EU.

Conflict of Interests: None.

Keywords: HBM4EU, human biomonitoring (HBM), health examination surveys (HESs), feasibility studies, environmental chemicals, environmental health

Suggested Citation

Elonheimo, Hanna Maria and Uusitalo, Karoliina and Moore, Sonja and Andersson, Anna-Maria and Baber, Ronny and Wirkner, Kerstin and David, Madlen and Kolossa-Gehring, Marike and Stewart, Lorraine and Sepai, Ovnair and Lermen, Dominik and Bartel-Steinbach, Martina and Rantakokko, Panu and Koponen, Jani and Tolonen, Hanna, HBM4EU Feasibility Studies: Lessons Learned in Combining Health and Human Biomonitoring Studies. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4223208 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4223208

Hanna Maria Elonheimo (Contact Author)

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Department of Public Health and Welfare ( email )

Karoliina Uusitalo

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Department of Public Health and Welfare ( email )

Sonja Moore

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Department of Public Health and Welfare ( email )

Anna-Maria Andersson

University of Copenhagen - Department of Growth and Reproduction ( email )

Ronny Baber

University of Leipzig - Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics ( email )

Kerstin Wirkner

Leipzig University ( email )

Madlen David

German Environment Agency (UBA) ( email )

Marike Kolossa-Gehring

German Environment Agency (UBA) ( email )

Lorraine Stewart

UK Health Security Agency ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Ovnair Sepai

UK Health Security Agency ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Dominik Lermen

Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT ( email )

Martina Bartel-Steinbach

Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT ( email )

Panu Rantakokko

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) ( email )

Jani Koponen

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) ( email )

Hanna Tolonen

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) - Department of Public Health and Welfare ( email )

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