Deep phenotyping meets big data: the Geoscience and hEalth Cohort COnsortium (GECCO) data to enable exposome studies in The Netherlands

Abstract Environmental exposures are increasingly investigated as possible drivers of health behaviours and disease outcomes. So-called exposome studies that aim to identify and better understand the effects of exposures on behaviours and disease risk across the life course require high-quality environmental exposure data. The Netherlands has a great variety of environmental data available, including high spatial and often temporal resolution information on urban infrastructure, physico-chemical exposures, presence and availability of community services, and others. Until recently, these envir... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Jeroen Lakerveld
Alfred Wagtendonk
Ilonca Vaartjes
Derek Karssenberg
GECCO Consortium
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Reihe/Periodikum: International Journal of Health Geographics, Vol 19, Iss 1, Pp 1-16 (2020)
Verlag/Hrsg.: BMC
Schlagwörter: Exposome / Exposure / Upstream determinants / Big data / Environment / Cohorts / Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics / R858-859.7
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27583583
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-020-00235-z

Abstract Environmental exposures are increasingly investigated as possible drivers of health behaviours and disease outcomes. So-called exposome studies that aim to identify and better understand the effects of exposures on behaviours and disease risk across the life course require high-quality environmental exposure data. The Netherlands has a great variety of environmental data available, including high spatial and often temporal resolution information on urban infrastructure, physico-chemical exposures, presence and availability of community services, and others. Until recently, these environmental data were scattered and measured at varying spatial scales, impeding linkage to individual-level (cohort) data as they were not operationalised as personal exposures, that is, the exposure to a certain environmental characteristic specific for a person. Within the Geoscience and hEalth Cohort COnsortium (GECCO) and with support of the Global Geo Health Data Center (GGHDC), a platform has been set up in The Netherlands where environmental variables are centralised, operationalised as personal exposures, and used to enrich 23 cohort studies and provided to researchers upon request. We here present and detail a series of personal exposure data sets that are available within GECCO to date, covering personal exposures of all residents of The Netherlands (currently about 17 M) over the full land surface of the country, and discuss challenges and opportunities for its use now and in the near future.