Approaches to integrated monitoring for environmental health impact assessment

Abstract

Although Integrated Environmental Health Monitoring (IEHM) is considered an essential tool to better understand complex environmental health issues, there is no consensus on how to develop such a programme. We reviewed four existing frameworks and eight monitoring programmes in the area of environmental health. We identified the DPSEEA (Driving Force-Pressure-State-Exposure-Effect-Action) framework as most suitable for developing an IEHM programme for environmental health impact assessment. Our review showed that most of the existing monitoring programmes have been designed for specific purposes, resulting in narrow scope and limited number of parameters. This therefore limits their relevance for studying complex environmental health topics. Other challenges include limited spatial and temporal data availability, limited development of data sharing mechanisms, heterogeneous data quality, a lack of adequate methodologies to link disparate data sources, and low level of interdisciplinary cooperation. To overcome some of these challenges, we propose a DPSEEA-based conceptual framework for an IEHM programme that would enable monitoring and measuring the impact of environmental changes on human health. We define IEHM as ‘a systemic process to measure, analyse and interpret the state and changes of natural-eco-anthropogenic systems and its related health impact over time at the same location with causative explanations across the various compartments of the cause-effect chain’. We develop a structural work process to integrate information that is based on existing environmental health monitoring programmes. Such a framework allows the development of combined monitoring systems that exhibit a large degree of compatibility between countries and regions.

A Review of Airborne Particulate Matter Effects on Young Children’s Respiratory Symptoms and Diseases

“…The following section presents a synthesis of our literature review, pointing out in brief the key research elements about the relationship of PM to respiratory health effects in children. Due to the numerous findings in various fields of this topic, the synthesis is presented following the DPSEEA (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Exposures, Health effects and Actions) framework [47,48], focussing mainly on novel approaches and future trends regarding the PM effects on children's respiratory health.…”

“…In the general population, secondary symptoms of exposure to PM are caused both by short-term (hours, days) and long-term exposure (months, years), and include: (i) respiratory morbidity, such as asthma worsening, respiratory symptoms, and increasing of hospital admissions [48,51,83]; and (ii) mortality through respiratory diseases or lung cancer, respectively [9,10]. In children, respiratory symptoms are divided into two main categories: symptoms related to diseases of the upper respiratory airways (cough, runny nose, sore throat and ear pain-otalgia) that are usually viral and treated at home with symptomatic medication (supportive care); and symptoms related to diseases of the lower respiratory airways (persistent cough, shortness of breath-dyspnoea, wheezing and chest pain).…”

Development of a Conceptual Framework Depicting a Childs Total (Built, Natural, Social) Environment in Order to Optimize Health and Well-Being

“…The World Health Organization has proposed more holistic models that incorporate environmental components. DPSEEA (Driving Force-Pressure-State-Exposure-Effect-Action) was developed to support the development of environmental health indicators by using a process that incorporates driving forces → pressures → environmental states → exposures → health conditions or effects [13,22] . It allows for links between exposure and health effects with several points of entry into the cause and effect chain and takes into account non-chemical stressors with ease and flexibility by assessing the problem using an interlinking approach.…”

“…Recent publications have proposed more complex conceptual frameworks with a specific purpose in mind, such as consideration of combination of stressors, multiple aspects of the total environment, added complexity, and/or more inclusivity [4,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] . For example, Segal, D. et al, 2015.…”

Pollution Biomarkers in Environmental and Human Biomonitoring

“…Concept which consists in a whole concept of bioindication based on the integration of human toxicology and ecotoxicology. More recently Liu et al [81] drew a conceptual framework for integrated environmental health monitoring based on the description of the natural-eco-anthropogenic system in which human health is considered the result of the environmental state and sustainability of natural and socioeconomic environment. Therefore, environmental monitoring, biomonitoring, eco-surveillance and health surveillance are seen as interconnections between the diverse components of the whole system [81].…”