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Research Methods

Building the Methodological Foundation for Health-Protective Environmental Research

Community-identified methodological priorities across health risk assessment, true cost accounting, policy impact analysis, life cycle assessment, health data visualization, and exposomics — building the analytical tools needed to capture cumulative exposures and advance environmental health equity.
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Health Risk Assessments 

The key question the public has around many environmental exposures is, “Should I be concerned about this?” Comprehensive Human Health Risk Assessment is a multi-step process involving hazard identification, dose-response measurement of effects, exposure assessment, and risk characterization, which can inform decision-making to control or otherwise respond to exposures to environmental hazards. The work requires multidisciplinary teams and can be applied to a wide range of environmental health concerns. CAC members are particularly interested in seeing Human Health Risk Assessments that take into account health disparities and social determinants of health. 

Open access data sources and computational toxicology tools are available to expedite this process, including: 

True Cost Accounting 

True Cost Accounting is a methodology often used in sustainable agriculture to take into account the externalities associated with growing food. CAC members are interested in collaborating on research that incorporates a similar approach to health economics and accounts for the true costs of pollution and other environmental hazards. They have specifically asked for EHSC to build relationships with more UC Davis health economists. 

Policy Impact Assessment 

For many of our CAC members, the primary public health intervention that they are engaged in is policy change. Across all topic areas, there is significant interest in environmental health research that assesses the health impacts of environmental health policy interventions (i.e. changes to public rules and regulations). There is also interest in examining the public health impacts of environmental, land use, or other types of policies that do not have direct public health goals, but which have the potential to influence public health through their environmental impact. 

This type of research could include analysis of changes to exposure levels and/or health outcomes associated with policy implementation, examination of the health impact of specific mechanisms of implementation, and/or assess the health impacts of compliance – the degree to which existing health protective policies are being followed/enforced. 

Life Cycle Assessment 

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method for accounting for costs and benefits along a product's life cycle. Depending on the goals of the assessment, a wide range of costs and benefits can be considered, including positive and negative human health impacts. Human health impact assessment is most commonly addressed in a type of LCA called a Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), which considers the social aspects of a product's life cycle. Health outcomes can also be included in a SLCA. 

Health Data Visualization Tools 

Health data visualization tools use indicators of exposure and vulnerability to identify geographic locations where communities are at disproportionate risk of environmental health impacts. These are designed to be used by policymakers, community organizations, and researchers to set priorities and allocate resources. 

In California, these include CalEnviroScreen 4.0, Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Indicators for California (CCHVIz), the California Healthy Places Index (HPI), the Human Right to Water Portal, and a tool currently in development analyzing toxic facilities by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (see SB 673 Cumulative Impacts and Community Vulnerability Regulatory Framework, 2021 ). 

These tools provide valuable data for communities, policy makers, and regulatory agencies to help ensure that the health of those at highest risk of harm is protected and prioritized. CAC members are interested in research that utilizes these (or similar) tools or investigates the efficacy/impact of these tools in influencing budgeting, land use, and permitting decisions in ways that improve environmental and public health. 

Exposomics 

The exposome is defined as the cumulative measure of all environmental exposures to chemicals, pollutants, physical agents, diet and nutrition, exercise, therapies, and other social determinants of health, and the resulting health effects on an individual. CAC members have expressed the desire to see more research that looks at complex mixtures and cumulative exposures, particularly in communities facing high environmental burdens. Exposomics is an emerging field that may offer insights into these more complex questions.