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Review
. 2021 Oct 1;5(5):e166.
doi: 10.1097/EE9.0000000000000166. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Advancing tools for human early lifecourse exposome research and translation (ATHLETE): Project overview

Martine Vrijheid  1   2   3 , Xavier Basagaña  1   2   3 , Juan R Gonzalez  1   2   3 , Vincent W V Jaddoe  4   5 , Genon Jensen  6 , Hector C Keun  7 , Rosemary R C McEachan  8 , Joana Porcel  1   2   3 , Valerie Siroux  9 , Morris A Swertz  10   11 , Cathrine Thomsen  12 , Gunn Marit Aasvang  12 , Sandra Andrušaitytė  13 , Karine Angeli  14 , Demetris Avraam  15 , Ferran Ballester  2   16   17 , Paul Burton  15 , Mariona Bustamante  1   2   3 , Maribel Casas  1   2   3 , Leda Chatzi  18 , Cécile Chevrier  19 , Natacha Cingotti  6 , David Conti  18 , Amélie Crépet  14 , Payam Dadvand  1   2   3 , Liesbeth Duijts  4   5 , Esther van Enckevort  10   11 , Ana Esplugues  2   16   17 , Serena Fossati  1   2   3 , Ronan Garlantezec  20 , María Dolores Gómez Roig  21   22   23 , Regina Grazuleviciene  13 , Kristine B Gützkow  12 , Mònica Guxens  1   2   3   24 , Sido Haakma  10   11 , Ellen V S Hessel  25 , Lesley Hoyles  26 , Eleanor Hyde  10   11 , Jana Klanova  27 , Jacob D van Klaveren  25 , Andreas Kortenkamp  28 , Laurent Le Brusquet  29 , Ivonne Leenen  6 , Aitana Lertxundi  2   30   31 , Nerea Lertxundi  30   31 , Christos Lionis  32 , Sabrina Llop  2   16 , Maria-Jose Lopez-Espinosa  2   16   17 , Sarah Lyon-Caen  9 , Lea Maitre  1   2   3 , Dan Mason  8 , Sandrine Mathy  33 , Edurne Mazarico  21   22   23 , Tim Nawrot  34   35 , Mark Nieuwenhuijsen  1   2   3 , Rodney Ortiz  1   2   3 , Marie Pedersen  36 , Josep Perelló  37 , Míriam Pérez-Cruz  21   22   23 , Claire Philippat  9 , Pavel Piler  27 , Costanza Pizzi  38 , Joane Quentin  9 , Lorenzo Richiardi  38 , Adrian Rodriguez  37 , Theano Roumeliotaki  32 , José Manuel Sabin Capote  37 , Leonardo Santiago  37 , Susana Santos  4   5 , Alexandros P Siskos  7 , Katrine Strandberg-Larsen  36 , Nikos Stratakis  1   18 , Jordi Sunyer  1   2   3 , Arthur Tenenhaus  29 , Marina Vafeiadi  32 , Rebecca C Wilson  39 , John Wright  8 , Tiffany Yang  8 , Remy Slama  9
Affiliations
Review

Advancing tools for human early lifecourse exposome research and translation (ATHLETE): Project overview

Martine Vrijheid et al. Environ Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Early life stages are vulnerable to environmental hazards and present important windows of opportunity for lifelong disease prevention. This makes early life a relevant starting point for exposome studies. The Advancing Tools for Human Early Lifecourse Exposome Research and Translation (ATHLETE) project aims to develop a toolbox of exposome tools and a Europe-wide exposome cohort that will be used to systematically quantify the effects of a wide range of community- and individual-level environmental risk factors on mental, cardiometabolic, and respiratory health outcomes and associated biological pathways, longitudinally from early pregnancy through to adolescence. Exposome tool and data development include as follows: (1) a findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable (FAIR) data infrastructure for early life exposome cohort data, including 16 prospective birth cohorts in 11 European countries; (2) targeted and nontargeted approaches to measure a wide range of environmental exposures (urban, chemical, physical, behavioral, social); (3) advanced statistical and toxicological strategies to analyze complex multidimensional exposome data; (4) estimation of associations between the exposome and early organ development, health trajectories, and biological (metagenomic, metabolomic, epigenetic, aging, and stress) pathways; (5) intervention strategies to improve early life urban and chemical exposomes, co-produced with local communities; and (6) child health impacts and associated costs related to the exposome. Data, tools, and results will be assembled in an openly accessible toolbox, which will provide great opportunities for researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders, beyond the duration of the project. ATHLETE's results will help to better understand and prevent health damage from environmental exposures and their mixtures from the earliest parts of the life course onward.

Keywords: Adolescent health; Child health; Early life; Exposome; Exposure assessment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with regard to the content of this report.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
ATHLETE project components. GIS indicates geographic information system.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Cohorts participating in ATHLETE. BiSC indicates Barcelona Life Study Cohort; DNBC, Danish National Birth Cohort; EDEN, Etude des Determinants pre et postnatals du developpement et de la sante de l’Enfant; ENVIRONAGE, environmental influence on early ageing; INMA, INfancia y Medio Ambiente; KANC, Kaunas Cohort; MoBa, Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study; NINFEA, Nascita e Infanzia: gli Effetti dell’Ambiente; PELAGIE, Perturbateurs Endocriniens: Étude Longitudinale sur les Anomalies de la Grossesse, l’Infertilité et l’Enfance; RHEA, Crete Mother Child Cohort; SEPAGES, Suivi de l’Exposition à la Pollution Atmosphérique durant la Grossesse et Effets sur la Santé; TNG, CELSPAC The Next Generation cohort.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Timeline of available data on exposome domains in the ATHLETE cohorts. BiSC indicates Barcelona Life Study Cohort; CELSPAC-TNG, CELSPAC The Next Generation cohort; DNBC, Danish National Birth Cohort; EDEN, Etude des Determinants pre et postnatals du developpement et de la sante de l’Enfant; ENVIRONAGE, environmental influence on early ageing; HELIX, Human Early Life Exposome; INMA, INfancia y Medio Ambiente; KANC, Kaunas Cohort; MoBa, Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study; NINFEA, Nascita e Infanzia: gli Effetti dell’Ambiente; PELAGIE, Perturbateurs Endocriniens: Étude Longitudinale sur les Anomalies de la Grossesse, l’Infertilité et l’Enfance; RHEA, Crete Mother Child Cohort; SEPAGES, Suivi de l’Exposition à la Pollution Atmosphérique durant la Grossesse et Effets sur la Santé.
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