Figure 1.

Conceptual overview of environmental influence on health and development. The upper part of each box indicates a category of measurement, progressing from external exposure to internal dose, to the effective dose based on what reaches the target site—organ or specific tissue/region. If the dose is sufficient, it may result in an early biological effect, which, if strong or persistent enough over time, may lead to altered function. Finally, functional deficits may progress to an outright disease or diagnosable condition. For each box, one or more examples is given, to illustrate the types of measurements that may be feasible in a prospective pregnancy cohort that follows children postnatally, highlighting a few of the variables being assessed in the MARBLES study.