Abstract
Benchmark analysis is a widely used tool in public health risk analysis. Therein, estimation of minimum exposure levels, called Benchmark Doses (BMDs), that induce a prespecified Benchmark Response (BMR) is well understood for the case of an adverse response to a single stimulus. For cases where two agents are studied in tandem, however, the benchmark approach is far less developed. This article demonstrates how the benchmark modeling paradigm can be expanded from the single-dose setting to joint-action, two-agent studies. Focus is on response outcomes expressed as proportions. Extending the single-exposure setting, representations of risk are based on a joint-action dose-response model involving both agents. Based on such a model, the concept of a benchmark profile (BMP) - a two-dimensional analog of the single-dose BMD at which both agents achieve the specified BMR - is defined for use in quantitative risk characterization and assessment. The resulting, joint, low-dose guidelines can improve public health planning and risk regulation when dealing with low-level exposures to combinations of hazardous agents.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1313-1322 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Biometrics |
Volume | 68 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2012 |
Keywords
- Benchmark analysis
- Joint-action model
- Quantal-response data
- Quantitative risk assessment
- Safety assessment
- Simultaneous inference
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Statistics and Probability
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- General Immunology and Microbiology
- General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
- Applied Mathematics