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Susceptible Subpopulation Research
Protecting Susceptible Subpopulations:
The Human Health Research Program is providing the science to understand how pollutants may affect susceptible populations and people who are highly exposed to pollutants. Susceptibility to pollutants depends on intrinsic factors, such as your stage of life, genetics, and pre-existing disease.
Scientists are working to identify effects in young children and the elderly that are different from effects in the larger population. Children may be particularly vulnerable because of differences in exposure arising from their behavior (e.g., crawling on the floor and putting things into their mouths), absorption, or metabolism. Aging also may render individuals more susceptible to adverse effects from a pollutant. As individuals age, their ability to defend against and respond to injury may diminish.
Methods and models developed by researchers can be used to predict responses in susceptible populations to environmental pollutants. Work is also underway to determine the relationship between exposures earlier in life to adverse effects later in life and to understand how exposure during critical periods of development can influence long-term health outcomes.
Goals
- Elucidate early biological indicators of effect, mode of action, and potential biomarkers that vary as a function of life stage
- Identify methods and develop models that can be used to assess life stage exposures and susceptibility
- Develop efficient study designs (e.g., age groups for exposure assessments) to study effects of and exposure to chemicals as a function of life stage
- Identify potential susceptible subpopulations based on life-stage-dependent exposures, activity patterns, and health status that could significantly change current risk assessment practices and policies
- Develop integrative exposure-dose-response models for quantitatively characterizing susceptibility to environmental pollutants in susceptible subpopulations and minimizing reliance on default assumptions in assessing risk
- Develop and verify information to support an Exposure Factors Handbook for the aging (similar to that already developed for children) that can be used by EPA, states, and local agencies, as well as community associations, for evaluating the potential risks of environmental pollutants
- Provide guidance to EPA concerning the appropriate use of safety factors to protect potentially sensitive subpopulations
- Develop both qualitative and quantitative exposure assessment methods that can be applied to longitudinal methods
- Develop broadly applicable risk management solutions that will allow schools to carry out practical action plans to improve indoor air quality and protect children's health at a reasonable cost