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Yu L, Liu W, Wang X, Ye Z, Tan Q, Qiu W, Nie X, Li M, Wang B, Chen W. A review of practical statistical methods used in epidemiological studies to estimate the health effects of multi-pollutant mixture. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2022; 306:119356. [PMID: 35487468 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Environmental risk factors have been implicated in adverse health effects. Previous epidemiological studies on environmental risk factors mainly analyzed the impact of single pollutant exposure on health, while in fact, humans are constantly exposed to a complex mixture consisted of multiple pollutants/chemicals. In recent years, environmental epidemiologists have sought to assess adverse health effects of exposure to multi-pollutant mixtures based on the diversity of real-world environmental pollutants. However, the statistical challenges are considerable, for instance, multicollinearity and interaction among components of the mixture complicate the statistical analysis. There is currently no consensus on appropriate statistical methods. Here we summarized the practical statistical methods used in environmental epidemiology to estimate health effects of exposure to multi-pollutant mixture, such as Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR), weighted quantile sum (WQS) regressions, shrinkage methods (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, elastic network model, adaptive elastic-net model, and principal component analysis), environment-wide association study (EWAS), etc. We sought to review these statistical methods and determine the application conditions, strengths, weaknesses, and result interpretability of each method, providing crucial insight and assistance for addressing epidemiological statistical issues regarding health effects from multi-pollutant mixture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linling Yu
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Wei Liu
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Xing Wang
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Zi Ye
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Qiyou Tan
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Weihong Qiu
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Xiuquan Nie
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Minjing Li
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Bin Wang
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China
| | - Weihong Chen
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
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