Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 4 complete abstracts (906 words), 10 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
Monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the bodies of living organisms, by diagnostic imaging or by analyzing blood; urine; breast milk; saliva, etc.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Biologic Monitoring; Monitoring, Biologic; Monitoring, Biological; Biomonitoring; Bio-Monitoring; Bio Monitoring.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Environmental Monitoring
Related concepts
- Diagnostic Imaging
- Blood
- Urine
- Breast Milk
- Saliva
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 2,024 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Biological Monitoring” (counts retrieved 2026-10-31). 1,828 of them (90.3%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is 2020 onward with 1,828 records.
Reviews account for 272 records (13.4%) and meta-analyses for 18. Randomized controlled trials number 7 (0.3%) as a share of all records on the topic. Randomized trials make up only a small share of this literature, so much of what is known comes from laboratory, observational or descriptive work.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 0 |
| 2000-2009 | 0 |
| 2010-2019 | 258 |
| 2020 onward | 1,828 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 272 | 13.4% |
| Meta-analyses | 18 | 0.9% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 7 | 0.3% |
Method: PubMed query "Biological Monitoring"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-10-31.
Reading the evidence in public health and nutrition
Population and nutrition studies mostly observe what people eat, breathe or are exposed to and then look for links with health, which shows association and not proof of cause. Self-reported diet is imprecise, people who eat or live differently also differ in other ways, and effects measured across a population may not apply to one person. Check the study design, how exposure was measured, what else was accounted for and the size of the effect, not only whether it was statistically significant.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Association of Trajectory of Cardiovascular Health Score and Incident Cardiovascular Disease | 2019 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 225 | cc by PMID 31150075 · DOI · PMC6547110 |
| eDNA metabarcoding as a biomonitoring tool for marine protected areas | 2021 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 69 | cc0 PMID 33626067 · DOI · PMC7904164 |
| Finger sweat analysis enables short interval metabolic biomonitoring in humans | 2021 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 57 | cc by PMID 34645808 · DOI · PMC8514494 |
| Ti-Doping Activates Adjacent Zr Sites in Bimetallic MOFs for Cooperative Phospholipid Removals in Human Biomonitoring | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 0 | cc by PMID 42439483 · DOI · PMC13360115 |
Association of Trajectory of Cardiovascular Health Score and Incident Cardiovascular Disease [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- ImportanceThe American Heart Association 2020 Strategic Impact Goals target an improvement in overall cardiovascular health, as assessed by 7 health metrics (smoking, body weight, physical activity, diet, plasma glucose level, plasma cholesterol level, and blood pressure).
- Closing excerpt
- Conclusions and relevanceCardiovascular health trajectories may be associated with subsequent CVD risk.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (355 words)
ImportanceThe American Heart Association 2020 Strategic Impact Goals target an improvement in overall cardiovascular health, as assessed by 7 health metrics (smoking, body weight, physical activity, diet, plasma glucose level, plasma cholesterol level, and blood pressure).ObjectiveTo examine whether trajectories of overall cardiovascular health over time, as assessed by the cardiovascular health score (CHS) in 2006, 2008, and 2010, are associated with subsequent risk of CVD.Design, setting, and participantsThe Kailuan study is a prospective, population-based study that began in 2006. The cohort included 74 701 Chinese adults free of myocardial infarction, stroke, and cancer in or before 2010. In the present study, CHS trajectories were developed from 2006 to 2010 to predict CVD risk from 2010 to 2015. Data analysis was performed from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2015.ExposuresThe CHS trajectories during 2006-2010 were identified using latent mixture models.Main outcomes and measuresIncident CVD events (myocardial infarction and stroke) during 2010-2015 were confirmed by review of medical records. The CHS trajectories were determined using 7 cardiovascular health metrics scored as poor (0 points), intermediate (1 point), and ideal (2 points); total score ranges from 0 (worst) to 14 (best). Based on the baseline CHS and patterns over time, 5 trajectories were categorized (low-stable, moderate-increasing, moderate-decreasing, high-stable I, and high-stable II).ResultsOf the 74 701 adults included in the study (mean [SD] age at baseline, 49.6 [11.8] years), 58 216 (77.9%) were men and 16 485 (22.1%) were women. Five CHS trajectories were identified from 2006 to 2010: low-stable (n = 4393; range, 4.6-5.2), moderate-increasing (n = 4643; mean increase from 5.4 to 7.8), moderate-decreasing (n = 14 853; mean decrease from 7.4 to 6.3), high-stable I (n = 36 352; range, 8.8-9.0), and high-stable II (n = 14 461; range, 10.9-11.0). During 5 years of follow-up, 1852 incident CVD cases were identified. Relative to the low-stable trajectory, the high-stable II trajectory was associated with a lower subsequent risk of CVD (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.16-0.26, after adjusting for age, sex, educational level, income, occupation, alcohol intake, and serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein concentration at baseline).Conclusions and relevanceCardiovascular health trajectories may be associated with subsequent CVD risk.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 31150075 · DOI · PMC6547110
eDNA metabarcoding as a biomonitoring tool for marine protected areas [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Monitoring of marine protected areas (MPAs) is critical for marine ecosystem management, yet current protocols rely on SCUBA-based visual surveys that are costly and time consuming, limiting their scope and effectiveness.
- Closing excerpt
- Results demonstrate the utility of eDNA metabarcoding for monitoring marine ecosystems, providing an important complementary tool to visual methods.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (214 words)
Monitoring of marine protected areas (MPAs) is critical for marine ecosystem management, yet current protocols rely on SCUBA-based visual surveys that are costly and time consuming, limiting their scope and effectiveness. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is a promising alternative for marine ecosystem monitoring, but more direct comparisons to visual surveys are needed to understand the strengths and limitations of each approach. This study compares fish communities inside and outside the Scorpion State Marine Reserve off Santa Cruz Island, CA using eDNA metabarcoding and underwater visual census surveys. Results from eDNA captured 76% (19/25) of fish species and 95% (19/20) of fish genera observed during pairwise underwater visual census. Species missed by eDNA were due to the inability of MiFish 12S barcodes to differentiate species of rockfishes (Sebastes, n = 4) or low site occupancy rates of crevice-dwelling Lythrypnus gobies. However, eDNA detected an additional 23 fish species not recorded in paired visual surveys, but previously reported from prior visual surveys, highlighting the sensitivity of eDNA. Significant variation in eDNA signatures by location (50 m) and site (~1000 m) demonstrates the sensitivity of eDNA to address key questions such as community composition inside and outside MPAs. Results demonstrate the utility of eDNA metabarcoding for monitoring marine ecosystems, providing an important complementary tool to visual methods.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc0 licence; © the authors. PMID 33626067 · DOI · PMC7904164
Finger sweat analysis enables short interval metabolic biomonitoring in humans [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Metabolic biomonitoring in humans is typically based on the sampling of blood, plasma or urine.
- Closing excerpt
- To conclude, metabotyping using sweat from fingertips combined with mathematical network modelling shows promise for broad applications in precision medicine by enabling the assessment of dynamic metabolic patterns, which may overcome the limitations of purely compositional biomarkers.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (189 words)
Metabolic biomonitoring in humans is typically based on the sampling of blood, plasma or urine. Although established in the clinical routine, these sampling procedures are often associated with a variety of compliance issues, which are impeding time-course studies. Here, we show that the metabolic profiling of the minute amounts of sweat sampled from fingertips addresses this challenge. Sweat sampling from fingertips is non-invasive, robust and can be accomplished repeatedly by untrained personnel. The sweat matrix represents a rich source for metabolic phenotyping. We confirm the feasibility of short interval sampling of sweat from the fingertips in time-course studies involving the consumption of coffee or the ingestion of a caffeine capsule after a fasting interval, in which we successfully monitor all known caffeine metabolites as well as endogenous metabolic responses. Fluctuations in the rate of sweat production are accounted for by mathematical modelling to reveal individual rates of caffeine uptake, metabolism and clearance. To conclude, metabotyping using sweat from fingertips combined with mathematical network modelling shows promise for broad applications in precision medicine by enabling the assessment of dynamic metabolic patterns, which may overcome the limitations of purely compositional biomarkers.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 34645808 · DOI · PMC8514494
Ti-Doping Activates Adjacent Zr Sites in Bimetallic MOFs for Cooperative Phospholipid Removals in Human Biomonitoring [4]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- The interference of phospholipids in serum poses a critical bottleneck for nontargeted human biomonitoring of chemical hazards.
- Closing excerpt
- This work establishes bimetallic node engineering as a powerful strategy to overcome matrix interference in exposomics and precision biomonitoring.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (148 words)
The interference of phospholipids in serum poses a critical bottleneck for nontargeted human biomonitoring of chemical hazards. Here, we report a Ti-doping strategy to activate adjacent Zr sites in a bimetallic Zr/Ti metal-organic framework (B-Zr/Ti MOF) for cooperative and efficient phospholipid removal. By precisely engineering the Ti content, the optimal B-Zr/Ti MOF achieves near-complete removal of major phospholipid subclasses while maintaining high recoveries (>50%) for over 500 diverse chemical hazards, even at trace levels (10 ng mL- 1). Combined XPS, FT-IR, and DFT calculations reveal that Ti incorporation modulates the local electronic environment, converting adjacent Zr sites into highly active Lewis acid centers that synergistically anchor phosphate headgroups via inner-sphere coordination. When integrated into a nontargeted LC-HRMS workflow, this material dramatically reduces matrix effects and expands detectable feature coverage. This work establishes bimetallic node engineering as a powerful strategy to overcome matrix interference in exposomics and precision biomonitoring.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42439483 · DOI · PMC13360115
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article Bisphenol A and its analogues: A comprehensive review to identify and prioritize effect biomarkers for human biomonitoring [5]
- Research article Biomonitoring of occupational exposure to bisphenol A, bisphenol S and bisphenol F: A systematic review [6]
- Research article Human biomonitoring in health risk assessment in Europe: Current practices and recommendations for the future [7]
- Research article Expanding ecological assessment by integrating microorganisms into routine freshwater biomonitoring [8]
- Research article Application of the comet assay in human biomonitoring: An hCOMET perspective [9]
- Research article Human Biomonitoring of Mycotoxins in Blood, Plasma and Serum in Recent Years: A Review [10]
Full-text reviews on EvidenceLib
Open-access review articles about this topic, reproduced in full with authors, licence and references.
Exposure to Perflouroalkyl acids and foetal and maternal thyroid status: a review
Sophie A. H. Boesen, Manhai Long, Maria Wielsøe et al. · Environmental Health 2020 · CC BY 4.0
References
- Wu S, An S, Li W, Lichtenstein AH, Gao J, Kris-Etherton PM, et al.. Association of Trajectory of Cardiovascular Health Score and Incident Cardiovascular Disease. . 2019. PMID 31150075 · DOI · PMC6547110
- Gold Z, Sprague J, Kushner DJ, Zerecero Marin E, Barber PH. eDNA metabarcoding as a biomonitoring tool for marine protected areas. . 2021. PMID 33626067 · DOI · PMC7904164
- Brunmair J, Gotsmy M, Niederstaetter L, Neuditschko B, Bileck A, Slany A, et al.. Finger sweat analysis enables short interval metabolic biomonitoring in humans. . 2021. PMID 34645808 · DOI · PMC8514494
- Liang Y, Ma H, Bai F, Zhang J, Qi Y, Shao B. Ti-Doping Activates Adjacent Zr Sites in Bimetallic MOFs for Cooperative Phospholipid Removals in Human Biomonitoring. . 2026. PMID 42439483 · DOI · PMC13360115
- Mustieles V, D'Cruz SC, Couderq S, Rodríguez-Carrillo A, Fini JB, Hofer T, et al.. Bisphenol A and its analogues: A comprehensive review to identify and prioritize effect biomarkers for human biomonitoring. Environ Int. 2020. PMID 32866736 · DOI
- Bousoumah R, Leso V, Iavicoli I, Huuskonen P, Viegas S, Porras SP, et al.. Biomonitoring of occupational exposure to bisphenol A, bisphenol S and bisphenol F: A systematic review. Sci Total Environ. 2021. PMID 33865140 · DOI
- Louro H, Heinälä M, Bessems J, Buekers J, Vermeire T, Woutersen M, et al.. Human biomonitoring in health risk assessment in Europe: Current practices and recommendations for the future. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2019. PMID 31176761 · DOI
- Sagova-Mareckova M, Boenigk J, Bouchez A, Cermakova K, Chonova T, Cordier T, et al.. Expanding ecological assessment by integrating microorganisms into routine freshwater biomonitoring. Water Res. 2021. PMID 33418487 · DOI
- Azqueta A, Ladeira C, Giovannelli L, Boutet-Robinet E, Bonassi S, Neri M, et al.. Application of the comet assay in human biomonitoring: An hCOMET perspective. Mutat Res Rev Mutat Res. 2020. PMID 32192646 · DOI
- Arce-López B, Lizarraga E, Vettorazzi A, González-Peñas E. Human Biomonitoring of Mycotoxins in Blood, Plasma and Serum in Recent Years: A Review. Toxins (Basel). 2020. PMID 32121036 · DOI · PMC7150965
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-11-04; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-11-04.
See how EvidenceLib is built. Spotted an error? Email support@evidencehelix.com.
Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.