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Review
. 2015 Oct;123(10):919-27.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.1409177. Epub 2015 Apr 10.

Uses of NHANES Biomarker Data for Chemical Risk Assessment: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

Jon R Sobus  1 , Robert S DeWoskin, Yu-Mei Tan, Joachim D Pleil, Martin Blake Phillips, Barbara Jane George, Krista Christensen, Dina M Schreinemachers, Marc A Williams, Elaine A Cohen Hubal, Stephen W Edwards
Affiliations
Review

Uses of NHANES Biomarker Data for Chemical Risk Assessment: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

Jon R Sobus et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2015 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Each year, the U.S. NHANES measures hundreds of chemical biomarkers in samples from thousands of study participants. These biomarker measurements are used to establish population reference ranges, track exposure trends, identify population subsets with elevated exposures, and prioritize research needs. There is now interest in further utilizing the NHANES data to inform chemical risk assessments.

Objectives: This article highlights a) the extent to which U.S. NHANES chemical biomarker data have been evaluated, b) groups of chemicals that have been studied, c) data analysis approaches and challenges, and d) opportunities for using these data to inform risk assessments.

Methods: A literature search (1999-2013) was performed to identify publications in which U.S. NHANES data were reported. Manual curation identified only the subset of publications that clearly utilized chemical biomarker data. This subset was evaluated for chemical groupings, data analysis approaches, and overall trends.

Results: A small percentage of the sampled NHANES-related publications reported on chemical biomarkers (8% yearly average). Of 11 chemical groups, metals/metalloids were most frequently evaluated (49%), followed by pesticides (9%) and environmental phenols (7%). Studies of multiple chemical groups were also common (8%). Publications linking chemical biomarkers to health metrics have increased dramatically in recent years. New studies are addressing challenges related to NHANES data interpretation in health risk contexts.

Conclusions: This article demonstrates growing use of NHANES chemical biomarker data in studies that can impact risk assessments. Best practices for analysis and interpretation must be defined and adopted to allow the full potential of NHANES to be realized.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no actual or potential competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Yearly publications (1999–2013) related to the U.S. NHANES, biomarkers, and biomarkers of environmental chemicals. For PubMed search and selection methods, see Supplemental Material, Table S1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical groups studied using NHANES biomarker data.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Tree diagram of publications identified via PubMed searches, selected via manual curation, and categorized by a data analysis approach (A). Trends in data analysis approaches for 1999–2013 (B).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Yearly chemical biomarker–related publications stratified by chemical group and analysis category. Abbreviations: E, exposure assessment; H, health association. Darker colors reflect a higher number of publications for the specified chemical group in a particular year. The scale indicates the publication count by color.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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