In 2011 and 2012, the COPHES/DEMOCOPHES twin projects performed the first ever harmonized human biomonitoring survey in 17 European countries. In more than 1800 mother-child pairs, individual lifestyle data were collected and cadmium, cotinine and certain phthalate metabolites were measured in urine. Total mercury was determined in hair samples. While the main goal of the COPHES/DEMOCOPHES twin projects was to develop and test harmonized protocols and procedures, the goal of the current paper is to investigate whether the observed differences in biomarker values among the countries implementing DEMOCOPHES can be interpreted using information from external databases on environmental quality and lifestyle. In general, 13 countries having implemented DEMOCOPHES provided high-quality data from external sources that were relevant for interpretation purposes. However, some data were not available for reporting or were not in line with predefined specifications. Therefore, only part of the external information could be included in the statistical analyses. Nonetheless, there was a highly significant correlation between national levels of fish consumption and mercury in hair, the strength of antismoking legislation was significantly related to urinary cotinine levels, and we were able to show indications that also urinary cadmium levels were associated with environmental quality and food quality. These results again show the potential of biomonitoring data to provide added value for (the evaluation of) evidence-informed policy making.

• MeSH
• biologické markery analýza   moč   MeSH
• dítě MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• interpretace statistických dat MeSH
• kadmium analýza   moč   MeSH
• kotinin moč   MeSH
• kouření zákonodárství a právo   moč   MeSH
• látky znečišťující životní prostředí analýza   moč   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• městské obyvatelstvo statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• monitorování životního prostředí metody   statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• potrava z moře (živočišná) statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• průzkumy a dotazníky normy   MeSH
• rtuť analýza   moč   MeSH
• venkovské obyvatelstvo statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• vládní regulace MeSH
• vlasy, chlupy chemie   MeSH
• vystavení vlivu životního prostředí analýza   statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dítě MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH