The general external Exposome encompasses the context in which humans spend time, move through, and in which behaviours take place and, eventually, which impacts human health. While the human external Exposome is potentially infinitely large, various scientific fields have contributed to unravelling the influence of geographical, social, economic and political factors on health. The challenge thus lies in identifying these factors, some of which may not have been classified as part of the external Exposome previously, and combining data on these factors to study their independent and joint influences on health.
Only a fraction of the vast amount of geospatial data available has been used in relation to human health. This is a major opportunity to identify the geospatial factors relevant to health. Through developing a comprehensive set of methods and analytical tools, the Exposome-NL programme will address the major challenges associated with releasing, accessing, integrating, and analysing complex spatiotemporal data in research on the health effects of Exposome factors.
The environment we live in has a dominant impact on our health. It explains an estimated seventy percent of the chronic disease burden. Where we live, what we eat, how much we exercise, the air we breathe and whom we associate with; all of these environmental factors play a role. The combination of these factors over the life course is called the exposome. There is general (scientific) consensus that understanding more about the exposome will help explain the current burden of disease and that it provides entry points for prevention and ...
Read More
