Exposures calculation

Calculation of exposures comprises two main steps:

  1. Linking dietary and non-dietary individual/individual-day exposures.

  2. Computing the (aggregated) internal exposures at the specified target compartment.

Both steps are optional in this module. If none is selected, exposures are external dietary exposures, i.e the target level is external/dietary. However, when multiple routes of exposure are considered, then the target level should be an internal compartment (organ). In the latter case, absorption factors or kinetic model are needed to aggregate the exposures from multiple routes into exposure at the target compartment. It is also possible to only provide dietary exposures and compute internal exposures at some target compartment.

In cumulative exposure calculations two simple approaches are used to identify and select mixtures contributing to the exposure of a target population:

  1. qualitative approach: counting of co-exposure. To which combinations of substances are individuals exposed?

  2. quantitative approach: maximum cumulative ratio (MCR). To what degree are mixtures more important than single substances?

A quantitative approach is available in the exposures mixtures module.