Use of human data in quantitative risk assessment of carcinogens: Impact on epidemiologic practice and the regulatory process
Abstract
Epidemiologic data are increasingly being used to assess cancer risk from chemicals as their value is recognized and as more and better studies become available. Weight-of-evidence approaches are now available for classifying the experimental and epidemiological evidence regarding human carcinogenicity. When the human data are extensive and of good quality, they should be given substantial weight in assessing risk. Both the positive and the negative epidemiologic data should be used in a quantitative risk assessment (QRA), because only then can an unbiased risk assessment be derived. Good-quality epidemiological studies are those with sound methodology, lack of bias, long enough follow-up times to observe a carcinogenic response, adequate exposure information, and dose-response information. Before a lack of carcinogenicity can be inferred, it is essential that the exposures be of substantial duration and intensity, and that the number of exposed persons be reasonably large. Epidemiologists need to give more attention to exposure assessment, because lack of quantitative exposure information is often the limiting factor that prevents the use of epidemiologic data in QRA. Development of methods to estimate historical workplace exposure intensities from surrogate industrial hygiene variables should receive high research priority, since they have the potential to increase the usefulness in QRA of many epidemiologic studies that have limited exposure information. Several…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Global, regional, and national burden of hepatitis B, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
- A meta‐analysis of anal cancer incidence by risk group: Toward a unified anal cancer risk scale
- Global fertility in 204 countries and territories, 1950–2021, with forecasts to 2100: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
- Exercise interventions in Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
- Prognostic Significance of Carbonic Anhydrase IX Expression in Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis
- Glucocorticoid Resistance: Is It a Requisite for Increased Cytokine Production in Depression? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.