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Environmental Exposures Across the Life Course: Methodological Innovations, Novel Applications and Implications for Risk and Equity

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 2116

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Stuart Batterman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Interests: exposure assessment; occupational; environmental; emerging contaminants; air quality; biological monitoring; environmental egineering; toxics; environmental justice; life course exposures; uncertainty analysis; inhalation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Life course exposure science and epidemiology aims to study exposures and their effects on health across the life course, considering exposures as far back as gestation and even in prior generations. Advances in biobanks and omics promote the measurement of various biomarkers, improving the understanding of biological mechanisms and growing the availability of geospatial and other datasets relevant to a very diverse set of stressors and mediators that include personal, family, occupational, environmental and socioeconomic factors. Life course exposure science and epidemiology applications are increasingly recognized as providing insights to understanding, predicting and potentially preventing chronic diseases such as hypertension and cancer.  They also show great promise for advancing the understanding of many other health endpoints, as well as disease trajectory and survival. Rigorous techniques are needed to address key issues and better quantify and validate exposures throughout the life course, to identify and confirm if these exposures are causally related to disease, and to translate predictions and lessons learned to improve health and prevent disease at the population level. This Special Issue focuses on methodological innovations and applications of life course exposure science and epidemiology. We also invite contributions where life course techniques are applied to assess population risk and equity implications.  

Prof. Dr. Stuart Batterman
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • environmental exposure
  • life course
  • geospatial
  • geographic information systems
  • residence location
  • exposome
  • cumulative effects
  • risk assessment
  • epidemiology
  • spatio-temporal epidemiology

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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29 pages, 4658 KB  
Article
Development of Life Course Exposure Estimates Using Geospatial Data and Residence History
by Stuart Batterman, Md Kamrul Islam and Stephen Goutman
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2025, 22(11), 1629; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22111629 - 26 Oct 2025
Viewed by 1323
Abstract
Life course exposure estimates developed using geospatial datasets must address issues of individual mobility, missing and incorrect data, and incompatible scaling of the datasets. We propose methods to assess and resolve these issues by developing individual exposure histories for an adult cohort of [...] Read more.
Life course exposure estimates developed using geospatial datasets must address issues of individual mobility, missing and incorrect data, and incompatible scaling of the datasets. We propose methods to assess and resolve these issues by developing individual exposure histories for an adult cohort of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and matched controls using residence history and PM2.5, black carbon, NO2, and traffic intensity estimates. The completeness of the residence histories was substantially improved by adding both date and age questions to the survey and by accounting for the preceding and following residence. Information for the past five residences fully captured a 20-year exposure window for 95% of the cohort. A novel spatial multiple imputation approach dealt with missing or incomplete address data and avoided biases associated with centroid approaches. These steps boosted the time history completion to 99% and the geocoding success to 92%. PM2.5 and NO2, but not black carbon, had moderately high agreement with observed data; however, the 1 km resolution of the pollution datasets did not capture fine scale spatial heterogeneity and compressed the range of exposures. This appears to be the first study to examine the mobility of an older cohort for long exposure windows and to utilize spatial imputation methods to estimate exposure. The recommended methods are broadly applicable and can improve the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of life course exposure estimates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Exposures Across the Life Course: Methodological Innovations, Novel Applications and Implications for Risk and Equity)
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Other

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19 pages, 597 KB  
Systematic Review
A Review of Biomonitoring for Atrazine and Atrazine Metabolites Using Blood, Urine, and Sweat-Based Assays
by Cecelia Zielke, Angela Garay, Ngaruiya Kariuki, Kaila Solo Wong, Shaan Gogna, Caitlyn Nguyen, Emily A. Lau, Joelle Ann Dualan, Katherine Callagy, Luke Charles Frozina, Risha S. Koparde, Ruier Fang, Sofia Jacik, Sukhad Mutatkar, Tyler Houston, Trang Thanh Ly, Vanessa Huynh and Victoria Fan
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2026, 23(3), 317; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph23030317 - 4 Mar 2026
Viewed by 484
Abstract
In current clinical medicine, urinary profiling and blood tests are the primary toxicological exposure assessments for endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including atrazine. Recent research suggests that analog monitoring of EDC concentrations and metabolites in sweat may be a less invasive, yet equally reliable method [...] Read more.
In current clinical medicine, urinary profiling and blood tests are the primary toxicological exposure assessments for endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including atrazine. Recent research suggests that analog monitoring of EDC concentrations and metabolites in sweat may be a less invasive, yet equally reliable method for conducting toxicological exposure assessments. However, no systematic reviews have identified whether concentrations of atrazine in sweat serve as a valid biomarker of environmental exposure. Thus, we performed a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature to assess (1) if there is a correlation between the concentration of atrazine present in blood and urine and evaluate the evidence for sweat-based biomonitoring and (2) whether atrazine concentrations in sweat are a reliable and valid measurement of atrazine exposure based on the current state of evidence in the peer-reviewed literature. Databases included PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, and WHO Global Index Medicus. Stratified by exposure context, the average blood concentration of atrazine and atrazine metabolites in acute poisoning patients was 261 ng/mL, and the average blood concentration in prenatal exposure contexts was 31.68 ng/mL maximum in the included studies. While physicochemical properties of atrazine metabolites, particularly deisopropylatrazine (DIA), suggest potential suitability for sweat-based monitoring, empirical validation through controlled sweat collection studies is required before this approach can be recommended for clinical or occupational use. The results of the systematic review were heterogeneous, and a narrative review was conducted. To conclude, no studies have examined the concentration of atrazine in sweat and whether sweat can be used as a statistically valid toxicological assessment of atrazine exposure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Exposures Across the Life Course: Methodological Innovations, Novel Applications and Implications for Risk and Equity)
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