Addressing Exposome: An Innovative Approach to Environmental Determinants in Pediatric Respiratory Health

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Giuliana Ferrante¹  Salvatore Fasola²  Giovanna Cilluffo⁴  Giorgio Piacentini¹  Giovanni Viegi⁵  Stefania La Grutta² 

[1] Department of Surgical Sciences, Dentistry, Gynecology and Pediatrics, Pediatric Division, University of Verona;Institute of Translational Pharmacology, National Research Council;Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, National Research Council;Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, University of Palermo;Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council

关键词: children;    environmental health;    epidemiology;    exposome;    respiratory health;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2022.871140

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Developmental age is particularly vulnerable to impacts of environmental exposures. Until recent years, the field of environment and child health has predominantly relied on the study of single exposure–health effect relationships. The exposome is an emerging concept in epidemiology, encompassing the totality of the exposures experienced by an individual throughout life and their changes over time. This innovative approach provides a risk profile instead of individual predictors. Exposome research may contribute to better understand the complex relationships between environmental exposures and childhood respiratory health, in order to implement prevention strategies and mitigate adverse health outcomes across the life span. Indeed, an accurate assessment of the exposome needs several measurements as well as different technologies. High-throughput “omics” technologies may be promising tools to integrate a wide range of exposures. However, analyzing large and complex datasets requires the development of advanced statistical tools. This narrative review summarizes the current knowledge on exposome-based approaches in pediatric respiratory health. Further, it explores practical implementation, associated evidence gaps, research limitations and future research perspectives.

【 授权许可】

CC BY