Geographical and Environmental Epidemiology
Published on 1. December 1992
Book
Hardback
382 pages
978-0-19-262280-8 (ISBN)
Description
This book addresses both the theoretical and practical issues which arise when describing the geographical distribution of disease and investigating apparent disease clusters. Requirements in terms of population data, disease incidence and mortality are considered and related to the scale at which a study is being carried out. Statistical methods are reviewed for large scale correlation studies, intermediate scale map smoothing exercises, and small scale clustering investigations, and the problems of interpretation are discussed. Problems of measuring environmental exposures at different scales are also reviewed. These issues are then related to current practice via a comprehensive set of case studies which include a large correlation study in China, clustering of asthma attacks, the Sellafield-leukaemia cluster, environmental clusters of mesothelioma in Turkey, the investigation of disease following the industrial accident at Seveso, and a multi-source study of cancer incidence around incinerators.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
numerous colour and black and white line figures, tables, bibliography
ISBN-13
978-0-19-262280-8 (9780192622808)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
Part 1 Introduction: geographihcal epidemiology and ecological studies; small-area studies - purpose and methods; health and the environment - the significance of chemicals and radiation. Part 2 Data, computational methods and mapping: mortality data; cancer incidence data for adults; cancer incidence data for children; congenital anomalies; specialized registers; population counts in small areas; use of routine data in studies of point sources of environmental pollution; socio-economic confounding; use of record linkage in small-area studies; confidentiality; practical approaches to disease mapping; estimating environmental exposures; mapping environmental exposure. Part 3 Statistical methods: statistical methods for geographical correlation studies; Bayesian methods for mapping disease risk; statistical methods for analyzing point-source exposures; some comments on methods for investigating disease risk around a point source; methods for the assessment of disease clusters. Part 4 Studies of health and the environment: environmental epidemiology - a historical perspective; guidelines for the investigation of clusters of adverse health events; studies of diseas clustering - problems of interpretation. Part 5 Case studies: childhood leukaemia around the Sellafield nuclear plant; the epidemic of respiratory cancer associated with erionite fibres in the Cappadocian region of Turkey; soya bean as a risk factor of epidemic asthma; the Seveso accident; cancer of the larynx and lung near incinerators of waste solvents and oils in Britain; a study of geographical correlations in China.