| Integrated Assessment of Environment and Health: America’s Children and the Environment Amy D. Kyle,1 Tracey J. Woodruff,2 and
Daniel A. Axelrad3 1School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley,
California, USA; 2U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, San Francisco,
California, USA; 3U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington,
DC, USA Abstract
The significance of the environment for health is increasingly being recognized. There is a need for systematic approaches to assessment of environmental factors most relevant to health, health outcomes most influenced by the environment, and the relationships between them, as well as for approaches to representing the results of such assessments in policy deliberations. As a step in the development of such methods, we used findings and data from the environmental protection and public health sectors to develop a set of measures representing topics relevant to children’s environmental health. We used a definition of the environment that emphasized contaminants and a process that involved both analytic and deliberative elements. The steps in this process were to a) develop a conceptual framework to depict relationships between environment and health with relevant types of data and information, b) select topic areas of significance for children, c) identify best available data sources and devise measures, d) assess possible surrogate data sources and measures when needed, e) design and implement metrics for computation of measures using specified data elements, f) select graphical representations of measures, g) identify related measures, and h) identify data gaps. Representatives of policy and stakeholder audiences participated in this process. The measures are presented in three groups that reflect contaminants in the environment, contaminants in human tissues, and diseases and disorders. The measures present scientifically based representations of data understandable to stakeholders and policy makers that integrate key information from the health and environment sectors in a consistent format. Key words: child, child welfare, children’s environmental health, environmental contaminants, environmental exposure, environmental health, environmental health indicators, environmental health framework, environmental pollutants, integrated assessment. Environ Health Perspect 114: 447-452 (2006) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8321 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 21 September 2005]
Address correspondence to A.D. Kyle, School of Public Health, 140 Warren Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 USA. Telephone: (510) 642-8847 (office) . Fax: (415) 869-2866. E-mail: adkyle@berkeley.edu. This work has benefited enormously from the suggestions of peer reviewers and stakeholders who participated in workshops and scoping sessions, and we thank all of them. This work was performed at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA 94720, and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation, Washington, DC 20460. The work was supported, in part, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through a cooperative agreement with the Regents of the University of California, Agreement CR 826964-01-1. The manuscript represents the views of the authors and not necessarily those of any institution with which they may be affiliated. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 15 May 2005 ; accepted 21 September 2005. The full version of this article is available for free in HTML or PDF formats. |
