Current Environmental Health Reports最新文献

{"title":"Current Understanding of Sex Differences in Metal-Induced Diseases.","authors":"Haiyan Lu, Morgan Delnicki, Gabrielle Griffin, Jamie Lynn Wise","doi":"10.1007/s40572-025-00482-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-025-00482-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>The influence of basic biological differences between males and females has been historically overlooked. This is especially true when considering the differences in disease severity and progression brought on by exposure to toxic metals. A current area of interest is understanding how exposure to toxic heavy metals manifests differently in males and females. The present work assesses the potential sex-differences in diseases induced by arsenic, lead, cadmium, and chromium. These specific heavy metals are included in a wealth of literature supporting their induction of diseases that negatively impact health.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>Arsenic toxicity appears to effect males significantly more than females. This is largely due to males having decreased arsenic methylation ability compared to females. Lead is a potent neurotoxicant that induces developmental and behavioral deficits in young children. While these deficits are seen in both sexes, the specific aspects of behavior and development affected differ between males and females. Research shows females absorb more cadmium from the gastrointestinal tract, correlating with a rich history of cadmium-induced renal dysfunction. Occupational exposure is a significant factor when considering chromium toxicity. Males are much more likely to work in industrial positions where chromium exposure is common, resulting in more males suffering the consequences of chromium exposure than females. Understanding how sex influences the pathogenesis of metal-induced diseases will allow for the elucidation of sex-specific mechanisms, which can be used to create more targeted and effective therapies to treat metal-induced diseases in males and females.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"18"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143810066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of Community Science in Addressing Policy Change: A Critical Review of Air Pollution Literature.","authors":"Emilia Oscilowicz, Guadalupe A Solís, Laura Martinez, Jeremy Németh, Gregory L Simon, Carrie Makarewicz, Katherine L Dickinson, Lisa M Mckenzie, Jean Scandlyn, Paulina Erices-Ocampo, Patrick L Kinney, Priyanka DeSouza","doi":"10.1007/s40572-025-00483-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-025-00483-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Community air pollution science serves as a vital tool in public health and urban planning, enabling communities to advocate for policy changes that improve public health outcomes. Despite its potential, there is a noticeable gap in translating research findings into policy actions.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This review aims to assess the focus of studies on community air pollution science published between 1990-2023 and identify the extent to which these studies address the research-to-policy gap.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a comprehensive review of 131 studies that utilize low-cost sensors for monitoring air pollution. The review specifically looked for how these studies contribute to bridging the research-to-policy gap.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our findings indicate a significant emphasis on evaluating the performance of low-cost sensors, with 90% of the studies centered on this aspect. Only 10% of the studies explicitly aimed at addressing the research-to-policy gap. Among these, 10 studies employed distinct theories of change to tackle this issue effectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>There is a critical need for a paradigm shift in community science research to enhance the impact of scientific findings on policy-making. This shift should include strategies such as equitable sensor distribution, a broader focus on regions in the Global South, and proactive engagement with policymakers from the early stages of research.</p><p><strong>Recommendations: </strong>Future research should prioritize closing the research-to-policy gap by incorporating these strategies to ensure that community air pollution science fully realizes its potential in shaping public health policies.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"17"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143750964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Occupational Heat Stress Among Migrant and Ethnic Minority Outdoor Workers: A Scoping Review.","authors":"Lena van Selm, Sarah Williams, Francesca de'Donato, Erica Briones-Vozmediano, Jan Stratil, Gaby Sroczynski, Cathryn Tonne, Manuela De Sario, Ana Requena-Méndez","doi":"10.1007/s40572-025-00481-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s40572-025-00481-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Migrant and ethnic minority (MEM) outdoor workers might be at increased risk for heat-related illnesses (HRI), due to environmental exposures, heavy physical work, limited control over workplace conditions and language and cultural barriers. This review aims to synthesize the literature on health impacts of occupational heat exposure among MEM outdoor workers, including risk factors, heat-related perception and behaviour and healthcare utilization.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>Seventy-six publications were included. Most were conducted in the US, where the weighted prevalence for at least one HRI symptom was 48.8%. These numbers were higher in most non-US countries. On average, in the US, 60.9% reported being concerned about heat and 60.4% having had HRI training. Many workers reported drinking more water when hot (91.7%) and feeling comfortable taking water breaks (92%) while fewer reported acclimatizing at the start of the season (43.7%) or changing working hours (34%) or activities (32.2%) due to heat. Qualitative studies reported reasons for working faster with less breaks, including fear of losing work and earning more when getting paid by the piece. Data on access to healthcare was limited. While research advances on MEM workers´ heat-related vulnerability, risk factors and healthcare utilization, there is a need to strengthen prevention efforts to reduce the burden of heat in this population.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"16"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11930879/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143691363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Occupational Heat Exposure & Mental Health Outcomes: A Review and Framework Incorporating Social Determinants of Health to Guide Future Research.","authors":"Stefani Florez-Acevedo, Maria T Blancas, June T Spector","doi":"10.1007/s40572-025-00479-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-025-00479-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Environmental heat exposure is associated with adverse mental health outcomes in the general population; however, the mental health effects of heat exposure in occupational populations have not been fully characterized. We sought to: (1) review primary research studies on the relationship of occupational heat exposure with mental health outcomes; and (2) synthesize the literature with a proposed framework to identify gaps and opportunities for future research, using an equity lens.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>Ten peer-reviewed studies between 1997 and 2024 that met our selection criteria included five cross-sectional, one longitudinal, one mixed-methods, one qualitative, and two experimental/quasi-experimental studies of varying quality. Studies were conducted across five continents covering agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting; public administration and healthcare; utilities; mining, oil and gas extraction; and glass manufacturing industries. Occupational heat exposure was associated with mental health outcomes including stress, anxiety, mental disorders and burnout in seven of ten studies. The literature on occupational heat exposure and mental health outcomes among workers is emerging. Future research should address research gaps through high-quality etiologic and solutions-oriented intervention research and should be informed by a framework that considers both upstream and downstream factors, including work psychosocial factors and social determinants of health. Research with worker populations with high current and projected occupational heat exposure and/or a high prevalence of factors associated with an increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes should be prioritized. Work equity should be addressed through partner-engaged methods and co-development of culturally appropriate products, incorporating the contexts and needs of populations at disproportionate risk of adverse mental health outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"15"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143514772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mapping Heat Vulnerability and Heat Risk for Neighborhood Health Risk Management in Urban Environment? Challenges and Opportunities.","authors":"Hung Chak Ho, Shilu Tong, Yi Zhou, Kejia Hu, Xuchao Yang, Yuanjian Yang","doi":"10.1007/s40572-025-00478-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-025-00478-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Heat vulnerability mapping (or heat risk mapping) is commonly used as a cost-effective tool to assess neighborhood health burdens for policy development and implementations. Some local governments have adopted this strategy to develop community action plans to cope with an increasing threat from heat exposure. However, various data/methods for mapping have yielded inconsistent results. For a compact city with high population density, issues from generic mapping techniques would become more apparent due to its complexity of social/environmental structures.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>We explored the similarities/differences in existing heat vulnerability mapping approaches. Previous models (1) failed to characterize extreme heat variations (e.g. days with different temperature extremes, difference between single hot days and prolonged heat events); (2) generally lacked a validation of associations between mapping results and various health outcomes (e.g. only relying on mortality data for validation but no validation of morbidities or clinical visits); (3) had a low ability to incorporate spatiotemporal variability of demographic patterns (e.g. difference in daytime/nighttime population patterns due to daily mobility); (4) were unable to adopt perceived heat exposure (e.g. Universal Thermal Climate Index); and (5) did not measure heat vulnerability at street-/building-levels even though 3-dimensional urban forms exist across major cities. Additionally, most applications (including those from local governments) were developed from a top-down perspective without a participatory design. A location-specific, evidence-based framework based on various exposure patterns and health outcomes with bottom-up strategies for implementations is needed for minimizing bias from \"one-size-fits-all\" strategies for action plans across high-density cities.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"14"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143482433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exposome Burden Scores to Summarize Environmental Chemical Mixtures: Creating a Fair and Common Scale for Cross-study Harmonization, Report-back and Precision Environmental Health.","authors":"Shelley H Liu, Katherine E Manz, Jessie P Buckley, Leah Feuerstahler","doi":"10.1007/s40572-024-00467-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s40572-024-00467-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Environmental health researchers are increasingly concerned about characterizing exposure to environmental chemical mixtures (co-exposure to multiple chemicals simultaneously). We discuss approaches for quantifying an overall summary score or index that reflects an individual's total exposure burden to components of the mixture. We focus on unsupervised methods, in which the summary score is not computed in relation to a pre-specified health outcome.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>Sum-scores and principal components analysis (PCA) are common approaches for quantifying a total exposure burden metric but have several limitations: 1) they require imputation when using exposure biomarkers with high frequency of non-detection, 2) they do not account for exposure heterogeneity, 3) sum-scores assume the same measurement error for all people, while there is no error term inherent to the PCA model as its primary purpose is dimension reduction, and 4) in pooled analyses, both approaches are limited to analyzing the set of exposure variables that are in common across all studies, potentially discarding valuable information. Meanwhile, item response theory (IRT) is a novel and promising alternative to calculate an exposure burden score that addresses the above limitations. It allows for the inclusion of exposure analytes with high frequency of non-detects without the need for imputation. It can account for exposure heterogeneity to calculate fair metrics for all people, through assessment of differential item functioning and mixture IRT. IRT also quantifies measurement errors of the exposure burden score that are individual-specific, such that it appropriately assigns a larger standard error to an individual who has missing data on one or more exposure variables. Lastly, IRT enhances cross-study harmonization by enabling the creation of exposure burden calculators to set a common scale across studies, and allows for the inclusion of all exposure variables within a chemical class, even if they were only measured in a subset of participants. Summarizing total exposure burden, through the creation of fair and informative index scores, is a promising tool for environmental health research as environmental exposures are increasingly used for biomonitoring and clinical recommendations.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"13"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11923795/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143440090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction: Carcinogenic Mechanisms of Hexavalent Chromium: from DNA Breaks to Chromosome Instability and Neoplastic Transformation.","authors":"Idoia Meaza, Aggie R Williams, Sandra S Wise, Haiyan Lu, John Pierce Wise","doi":"10.1007/s40572-025-00480-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-025-00480-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"12"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143413730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exposed and Vulnerable: Sources and Health Implications of Chemical Exposures in Neonatal, Pediatric, and Cardiac Intensive Care Units.","authors":"Jordan R Kuiper, Melania Bembea, J William Gaynor, David Graham, Eric M Graham, Kurunthachalam Kannan, Nikki G Posnack, Allen D Everett, Jessie P Buckley","doi":"10.1007/s40572-025-00477-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-025-00477-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in early life have demonstrable adverse implications on child health and development. Yet, there is a dearth of studies evaluating the potential exposures to EDCs, such as bisphenols, parabens, phthalates, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in hospital-based settings among children who are critically ill and/or particularly vulnerable. This narrative review seeks to provide up-to-date evidence on the sources and magnitude of exposure to EDCs in neonatal-, pediatric-, and cardiac intensive care units (NICUs/PICUs/CICUs) as well as resulting health impacts.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>Thirty-three studies were included in this review. The most frequently studied and characterized EDCs in NICUs/PICUs/CICUs were phthalates followed by terephthalates and alternative plasticizers. Evaluations of health outcomes resulting from such exposures were scarce, and few studies assessed health outcomes after hospital discharge. EDCs are pervasive in NICU/PICU/CICU settings and pediatric exposure levels are much higher than in other environments. However, the existing evidence has multiple limitations that should be addressed in future work. Specifically, studies evaluating a more expansive array of chemicals, including contemporary and emerging replacements for legacy compounds, are needed, as are studies that consider chemical mixtures. Additionally, few studies evaluated the health impacts of chemical exposures, and their mixtures, in NICU/PICU/CICU settings, especially long-term health outcomes observed after hospital discharge. Such studies could be invaluable in supporting policy as well as development of medical products without toxic chemicals.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"11"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143413665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hurricanes and Health Equity: A Review of Structural Determinants of Vulnerability for Climate and Health Research.","authors":"Shifali Mathews, Genee Smith, Jaime Madrigano","doi":"10.1007/s40572-025-00475-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s40572-025-00475-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Understanding hurricane vulnerability is crucial for targeting and identifying climate adaptation measures. However, vulnerability assessments often focus on proximal factors, which may obscure underlying drivers of health inequities. We sought to describe the literature characterizing hurricane vulnerability in the U.S., from 2000 to 2022. We abstracted the approaches and factors in each hurricane vulnerability assessment study, and developed a conceptual framework to guide data collection on structural determinants of climate vulnerability.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>The review included a total of 121 studies. The majority pre-specified vulnerable populations, while 40% empirically derived vulnerability. Downstream factors pertaining to demographics, spatial analysis, and health status were most commonly used to assess vulnerability to hurricanes. Only five studies reported structural vulnerabilities, including racism, governance, institutions, and infrastructure deficiencies, which form the basis of our conceptual framework. Most hurricane vulnerability studies do not consider upstream factors of health inequities. We developed a conceptual framework and provided example data measures for structural determinants to incorporate into climate and health research, facilitating the development of more effective interventions to address root causes.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"10"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11787172/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143074137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of Early-life PFAS Exposure on Child Neurodevelopment: A Review of the Evidence and Research gaps.","authors":"Jennifer L Ames, Vanshika Sharma, Kristen Lyall","doi":"10.1007/s40572-024-00464-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s40572-024-00464-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent chemicals with many modern applications, leading to widespread contamination and universal human exposure. PFAS exposure during early life is of particular concern, given susceptibility of the developing fetal and infant brain to toxic exposures. This review aims to synthesize current evidence, discuss methodological challenges, and highlight research gaps to guide future studies on the impact of PFAS on neurodevelopment.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>Sixty-one studies in total were published from 2008 to March 2024, with 35 in the last five years. Findings primarily link early life PFAS exposure to reduced cognitive, motor, and language development in infancy and increased behavioral issues like hyperactivity in childhood. Large studies have shown mixed results concerning child cognition, executive function, autism, and ADHD, with some indicating no association or unexpected protective findings. Sex-specific associations have been observed, but not consistently. Most research has addressed low-level exposure, suggesting subtle but potentially significant population-wide neurodevelopmental effects. Recent research also highlights concerns about newer, alternative PFAS, suggesting they too might affect neurodevelopment.  The effects of early-life PFAS exposure on neurodevelopment merit further study, particularly the cumulative effects of prenatal and postnatal exposures. Research has not fully explored sensitive subgroups or potential mitigating factors such as breastfeeding and nutrient intake, which will require larger, more diverse samples. Future directions include deeper study of PFAS mixtures, interactions with other neurotoxic environmental chemicals, and effects of newer PFAS types. There is also a need to focus on neuropsychological functioning in later childhood, using direct assessments for more reliable evaluations.</p>","PeriodicalId":10775,"journal":{"name":"Current Environmental Health Reports","volume":"12 1","pages":"9"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11785707/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143063866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}