AUTHOR=Samuel Immanuel B. H. , Pollin Kamila , Tschida Sherri , Prisco Michelle Kennedy , Lu Calvin , Powell Alan , Mefford Jessica , Lee Jamie , Dupriest Teresa , Forsten Robert , Ortiz Jose , Barrett John , Reinhard Matthew , Costanzo Michelle TITLE=Linked Exposures Across Databases: an exposure common data elements aggregation framework to facilitate clinical exposure review JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=12 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1408222 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1408222 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=

Understanding the health outcomes of military exposures is of critical importance for Veterans, their health care team, and national leaders. Approximately 43% of Veterans report military exposure concerns to their VA providers. Understanding the causal influences of environmental exposures on health is a complex exposure science task and often requires interpreting multiple data sources; particularly when exposure pathways and multi-exposure interactions are ill-defined, as is the case for complex and emerging military service exposures. Thus, there is a need to standardize clinically meaningful exposure metrics from different data sources to guide clinicians and researchers with a consistent model for investigating and communicating exposure risk profiles. The Linked Exposures Across Databases (LEAD) framework provides a unifying model for characterizing exposures from different exposure databases with a focus on providing clinically relevant exposure metrics. Application of LEAD is demonstrated through comparison of different military exposure data sources: Veteran Military Occupational and Environmental Exposure Assessment Tool (VMOAT), Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) database, and a military incident report database, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Information Management System (EODIMS). This cohesive method for evaluating military exposures leverages established information with new sources of data and has the potential to influence how military exposure data is integrated into exposure health care and investigational models.