New Methods for Evaluating Effects of Exposure to Environmental Complex Mixtures on Human Health

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Exposome Analysis and Risk Assessment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 19 April 2026 | Viewed by 782

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Medical Statistics, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China
Interests: causal inference; environmental health sciences; mediation analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Medical Statistics, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China
Interests: population health metrics and evaluation, including (1) methodological studies of comprehensive health metrics; (2) evaluation of burden of diseases and injuries, and (3) novel modeling methods for casual inference

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Humans are rarely exposed to a single agent; rather, they experience concurrent, time-varying mixtures spanning air pollutants, metals, pharmaceuticals/biocides, PFAS, nanomaterials, micro- and mesoplastics, noise, heat, and built-environment features. This Special Issue focuses on new methods, models, or approaches to treat data and evaluate the health risk of exposure to these different agents. Studies that provide clear implications for decision making across the human life course are also welcomed. We consider methodological advances in (1) risk assessment and inference methods with interaction (synergy/antagonism), (2) featured exposure–response modeling such as high-dimensional inference regarding Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression, g-computation, etc., and (3) evaluation of intervention measures targeting these mixtures based on causal frameworks. We also encourage applications that bridge epidemiology, toxicology, and risk assessment, with open code/data and rigid modeling techniques to unveil the link behind complex environmental mixtures and human health. Situating within the existing literature on comparative risk assessment and health impact assessment, this Special Issue extends beyond single-pollutant paradigms and advances mixture-based exposure–response functions and counterfactual analysis suitable for estimating population health burdens. Submissions spanning cohort, panel, and case-crossover, as well as experimental designs, and contributions covering diverse populations and environmental determinant perspectives, are especially encouraged.

Dr. Wangjian Zhang
Dr. Xiao Lin
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • comparative risk assessment
  • environmental complex mixtures
  • human mixture exposome
  • effect modification
  • equity and vulnerable populations
  • adverse health effects
  • methodological studies

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 615 KB  
Article
The Causal Relationship Between Long-Term Exposure to Major PM2.5 Constituents and the Rate of Emergency Department Visits: A Difference-in-Differences Study
by Peizhen Zhao, Chenxi Xie, Shenghao Wang, Shao Lin, Guanghui Dong, Jiashun Li, Sen Yu, Ting Zhang, Xiaozhou Yu, Xian Lin, Sizhe Li, Xiaoru Wu, Jiyuan Zhou and Wangjian Zhang
Toxics 2025, 13(11), 973; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13110973 - 12 Nov 2025
Viewed by 618
Abstract
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a well-established health hazard, yet population-level causal evidence on the long-term effects of its chemical constituents and their interactions with environmental and socioeconomic factors remains scarce. This study leveraged quasi-experimental variation in PM2.5 exposure across [...] Read more.
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a well-established health hazard, yet population-level causal evidence on the long-term effects of its chemical constituents and their interactions with environmental and socioeconomic factors remains scarce. This study leveraged quasi-experimental variation in PM2.5 exposure across Guangdong province, China, during 2007–2018 to evaluate its causal impact on emergency department (ED) visits. We applied a Difference-in-Differences (DID) causal inference framework to obtain counterfactual estimates of long-term exposure effects and complemented this with generalized Weighted Quantile Sum (gWQS) regression to treat PM2.5 as a complex mixture, quantify joint effects, and identify toxic components. The results showed that each interquartile increase in long-term PM2.5 exposure was associated with a 10.2% rise in ED visits, with nitrate (weight = 0.299) and sulfate (0.294) contributing the most strongly, while organic matter exerted greater effects in less-developed regions. Temperature variation further modified these effects, with a 1 °C increase in average summer temperature associated with a 3.3% increase and a decrease in winter temperature linked to a 0.54% increase in constituent-related ED visits. Socioeconomic stratification revealed heterogeneous toxicity profiles across regions. These findings provide robust causal evidence on constituent-specific risks of PM2.5, highlight the utility of integrating causal and mixture methods for complex exposures, and support targeted emission control and climate-adaptive strategies to protect vulnerable populations. Full article
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