The Navigation Guide: A Methodology for Weighing the Strength of the Evidence Linking Environmental Contaminants to Reproductive and Developmental Health

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Investigator: Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH
Sponsor: Abt Associates, Inc.

Location(s): United States

Description

The scientific evidence linking environmental exposures to adverse health outcomes has yet to be compiled using systematic methods with the capacity to inform effective healthcare and policy decision-making. The relevant evidence is largely unfamiliar to health professionals caring for women and men of childbearing age, patients, communities, consumers, and other impacted populations. There is currently no trusted reference or compendium that provides them with timely, evidence-based advice about exposure to environmental contaminants.

To bridge the gap between clinical and environmental health sciences, PRHE has undertaken an interdisciplinary collaboration to develop a systematic and transparent methodology to evaluate the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations about the relationship between the environment and reproductive health. The result of this collaboration---the Navigation Guide--- was published in the May 2011 issue of the journal Health Affairs.