A revised concept for deriving reference values for internal exposures to chemical substances and its application to population-representative biomonitoring data in German children and adolescents 2014-2017 (GerES V)

Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2023 Aug 12;253:114236. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114236. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTHBM reference values, in contrast to toxicologically derived values, are statistically derived values that provide information on the exposure of the population. The exceedance frequency (if applicable for individual population groups) is often a first assessment standard for the local exposure situation for municipalities. More than 25 years have passed since the German Human Biomonitoring Commission (HBMC) formulated the first recommendations for the derivation of population-based reference values (HBM reference values, RV95) for substance concentrations based on HBM studies. A fundamental revision is timely, for several reasons. There have been considerable advances in relevant statistical methods, which meant that previously time-consuming and inaccessible procedures and calculations are now widely available. Furthermore, not all steps for the derivation of HBM reference values were clearly elaborated in the first recommendations. With this revision we intended to achieve a rigorous standardization of the entire process of deriving HBM reference values, also to realise a higher degree of transparency. In accordance with established international practice, it is recommended to use the 95th percentile of the reference distribution as the HBM reference value. To this end, the empirical 95th percentile of a suitable sample should be rounded, ensuring that the roun...
Source: International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: research