Joint EFSA-BfR International Conference on Using Epidemiological Studies in Health Risk Assessments: relevance, reliability and causality
Venue:
German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment
Lecture Hall
Diedersdorfer Weg 1
12277 Berlin (Marienfelde)
EFSA and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) are jointly holding an International Conference on Using Epidemiological Studies in Health Risk Assessments, subheaded “relevance, reliability and causality”, in Berlin on 9-10 November 2023. Online streaming of the conference will be available to registered delegates.
Observational epidemiological studies can provide valuable evidence for health risk assessments in various areas including food and feed safety, chemical and product safety, occupational health, environmental health and animal health.
However, the use of epidemiological data to assess health risks is often not systematic. The presumed inability of observational studies to demonstrate a causal relationship may even lead to their exclusion from the assessment although they may provide valuable evidence for example in a weight-of-evidence approach.
Risk assessors may encounter challenges when using epidemiological data for their assessments. Some of these are related to the approaches for the critical appraisal of the evidence of individual studies; critical appraisal should consider uncertainties in the methods used to determine exposures, risk factors and outcomes. Uncertainty about the causal nature of an observed association is a central question in the use of epidemiological evidence in health risk assessment.
Epidemiologists, health statisticians, risk assessors, other users of epidemiological evidence (e.g. toxicologists and nutritionists) as well as risk managers and stakeholders are invited to share and discuss their experiences to promote the use of epidemiological data in health risk assessments.
The conference is a two-day event with pre-conference workshops and will be composed of invited and submitted talks, poster sessions and interactive sessions.
Registration and submission of workshop proposals and abstracts:
To register please see the conference page on the BfR website
Registration for the conference will close on October 25, 2023.
Abstracts and posters submission has been closed.
If you wish to participate in one of the workshops, please send an email to: epi-risk-conf [at] bfr.bund.de
Programme
Topic 1
Using epidemiological studies in health risk assessments
Discussion and exchange on the current state of the use of epidemiological evidence in risk assessment.
Topic 2
Critical appraisal of individual epidemiological studies
Critical appraisal of the body of evidence plays a central role in the field of risk assessment and therefore requires well-established and standardised methods. Established methods and tools as well as new developments in the field of critical appraisal and risk of bias (RoB) of epidemiological studies assessment will be presented and discussed.
Topic 3
Appraising the epidemiological evidence on causality
Within this topic, current perspectives on how evidence from epidemiological studies can be used to answer causality questions will be presented and discussed.
The final detailed programme is available on the BfR website.
Pre-conference workshops
As a pre-conference programme, workshops on two different instruments for the assessment of risk of bias will be offered and held as a joint event that is equally geared towards expert-based analyses and rapid assessments through non-professionals.
Pre-conference workshop 1:
The OHAT approach for assessing risk of bias in epidemiological studies
Kyla W Taylor, Andrew A Rooney
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, USA
The OHAT (Office of Health Assessment and Translation) systematic review framework addresses study credibility by assessing internal validity or “risk of bias” – the assessment of whether the design and conduct of a study compromised the credibility of the association between exposure and outcome. The OHAT approach supports the development of confidence and hazard conclusions by allowing for comparison of particular risk-of-bias issues across a body of evidence and facilitating comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of different bodies of evidence. The goal of the workshops is to introduce the tool and provide instructions on how to use them.
Pre-conference workshop 2:
Epidemiological evidence in the context of risk assessment and introduction and usage
of the raRoB tool
Sven Knüppel, Kristina Plate
German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin
In the critical appraisal of observational epidemiological studies, an important part consists of assessing study design and methods for bias (systematic errors). With support of an EFSA Framework Partnership Agreement the BfR is developing and validating the raRoB tool (rapid assessment of Risk of Bias), which can be applied quickly and is as easy to understand as possible also by non-epidemiologists.
The workshops will be free of charge and held in presence. The number of workshop places is limited.
Logistics and contact
Logistics
Details on the venue are provided at the BfR web site.
English is the official language of the event; no translation will be provided.
Contact
Do not hesitate to contact laura.ciccolallo [at] efsa.europa.eu or marios.georgiadis [at] efsa.europa.eu at EFSA or epi-risk-conf [at] bfr.bund.de at BfR for content related information.