Chemical pollution, exposome and health in the Canary Islands population: An assessment of the situation

BACKGROUND // The set of exposures to chemical substances and their role as a cause of disease gives rise to the concept of the exposome, partially made up of chemical pollutants to which an individual is exposed, which is why, unlike the genome, it is an a priori modifiable factor, its study being crucial in terms of Public Health. The population of the Canary Islands has been studied in terms of its levels of chemical contamination, with numerous biomonitoring studies, which makes it necessary to characterise its exposome and its consequences in terms of disease, in order to implement specific corrective measures to minimize the impact on its health.METHODS // A review of scientific literature (MEDLINE and Scopus) was made, according to PRISMA criteria and PICO methodology, to include studies on biomonitoring of pollutants, or evaluating the effect of pollutants on diseases prevalent in the archipelago.RESULTS //Twenty-five studies, both population-based and hospital-based, were selected. The results show that the exposome is made up of at least 110 compounds or elements, 99 of which appear to be present from the intrauterine stage. The presence of chlorinated pollutants and metals stands out, which seems to be related to the high incidence of metabolic diseases (diabetes), cardiovascular diseases (hypertension) and certain types of neoplasms (breast cancer). In short, the consequences are conditioned by the genome of the exposed population, reinforcing the enormous importance of genome-exposome interactions in the development of pathologies.CONCLUSIONS //Our results indicate that it is necessary to establish corrective measures on the sources of pollution that modify the exposome of this population.