Table 1.
Uses and limitations of hazard data, exposure data, and HOD.
| Uses | Limitations |
|---|---|
| Hazard data | |
| Regulatory compliance | Not representative of individual exposures |
| Standard setting | Gaps in geographic coverage of monitors |
| Policymaking | High percentage of nondetected values in data |
| Characterization of pollution sources | Sampling and measurement errors are often unknown |
| Reflect current levels of pollutants | |
| Insufficient data quantity for trend analysis | |
| Objectives for monitoring vary across environmental media | |
| Exposure data | |
| Indicator of individual exposure to a hazard | Data rarely available at the individual level |
| Required to link hazard with health outcome | Misclassification of exposure |
| Difficult to account for multiple exposure pathways | |
| Exposure models based on assumptions and uncertainties not included in statistical analysis | |
| Lack of data amount, frequency, and duration of exposure | |
| Variability within populations impedes generalizing exposure | |
| Difficult to reconstruct past exposure | |
| Health outcome data | |
| Describes health status of populations | Data completeness |
| Describes distribution and frequency of disease | Misclassification of disease |
| Generalizability to population | |
| Confidentiality issues (HIPAAa) | |
| All three types of data | |
| Completeness of records | |
| Timeliness of reporting | |
| Availability of access to data | |
| Geographic resolution of the data (scale) | |
| Frequency of data collection | |
| Lack of data collection standards | |