A New Analysis and Visualization Tool to Identify Chemical Exposure Disparities by Demographic Traits

摘要

Variations in chemical exposure by demographic traits have been well studied individually for specific chemical classes but are not systematically studied for a wide range of chemicals to contrast the influence of demographic traits on chemical exposure patterns. This study aims to develop a new analysis and visualization tool that enables us to analyze and compare exposure patterns in the US Population 1999-2014 for a large number of traits and chemicals by using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 229 chemical biomarker concentrations measured in 74,942 participants. We conducted a series of multiple regression models with the chemical biomarker levels as the outcome variable and the main predictors as age, sex, ethnicity, smoking behaviors, and poverty income ratio while adjusting for urinary flow and study years. We developed a visualization tool known as the Alphabet Soup Plot that displays the regression coefficient of each inherent trait for each chemical biomarker and identified widespread differences in chemical biomarker levels by different populations. For most phthalates, there is little to no difference in chemical biomarker levels by race with the exception of mono-ethyl phthalate (used in cosmetics), which is shown to be on average 53%, 103%, and 74% higher in Mexican, Other Hispanic, and Non-Hispanic Black participants respectively than in Non-Hispanic White participants. PFOS and PFHS are shown to be of higher concentrations in Non-Hispanic White participants compared to Mexican and Other Hispanic participants by over 20% and are also shown to be higher in individuals of high socioeconomic status by over 27%. Development of this visualization tool enables us to comprehensively quantify the influence of several inherent traits on multiple chemical exposure patterns and to identify which combination of chemicals and populations should be prioritized for further toxicological evaluation and targeted health interventions.