Environmental Epidemiology

Teaches Students How to Perform Spatio-Temporal Analyses within Epidemiological Studies Spatio-Temporal Methods in Environmental Epidemiology is the first book of its kind to specifically address the interface between environmental epidemiology and spatio-temporal modeling. In response to the growing need for collaboration between statisticians and environmental epidemiologists, the book links recent developments in spatio-temporal methodology with epidemiological applications. Drawing on real-life problems, it provides the necessary tools to exploit advances in methodology when assessing the health risks associated with environmental hazards. The book’s clear guidelines enable the implementation of the methodology and estimation of risks in practice. Designed for graduate students in both epidemiology and statistics, the text covers a wide range of topics, from an introduction to epidemiological principles and the foundations of spatio-temporal modeling to new research directions. It describes traditional and Bayesian approaches and presents the theory of spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal modeling in the context of its application to environmental epidemiology. The text includes practical examples together with embedded R code, details of specific R packages, and the use of other software, such as WinBUGS/OpenBUGS and integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA). A supplementary website provides additional code, data, examples, exercises, lab projects, and more. Representing a major new direction in environmental epidemiology, this book—in full color throughout—underscores the increasing need to consider dependencies in both space and time when modeling epidemiological data. Students will learn how to identify and model patterns in spatio-temporal data as well as exploit dependencies over space and time to reduce bias and inefficiency.

The amount of hazardous waste in the United States has been estimated at 275 million metric tons in licensed sites alone. Is the health of Americans at risk from exposure to this toxic material? This volume, the first of several on environmental epidemiology, reviews the available evidence and makes recommendations for filling gaps in data and improving health assessments. The book explores: Whether researchers can infer health hazards from available data. The results of substantial state and federal programs on hazardous waste dangers. The book presents the results of studies of hazardous wastes in the air, water, soil, and food and examines the potential of biological markers in health risk assessment. The data and recommendations in this volume will be of immediate use to toxicologists, environmental health professionals, epidemiologists, and other biologists.

As an area of statistical application, environmental epidemiology and more speci cally, the estimation of health risk associated with the exposure to - vironmental agents, has led to the development of several statistical methods and software that can then be applied to other scienti c areas. The stat- tical analyses aimed at addressing questions in environmental epidemiology have the following characteristics. Often the signal-to-noise ratio in the data is low and the targets of inference are inherently small risks. These constraints typically lead to the development and use of more sophisticated (and pot- tially less transparent) statistical models and the integration of large hi- dimensional databases. New technologies and the widespread availability of powerful computing are also adding to the complexities of scienti c inves- gation by allowing researchers to t large numbers of models and search over many sets of variables. As the number of variables measured increases, so do the degrees of freedom for in uencing the association between a risk factor and an outcome of interest. We have written this book, in part, to describe our experiences developing and applying statistical methods for the estimation for air pollution health e ects. Our experience has convinced us that the application of modern s- tistical methodology in a reproducible manner can bring to bear subst- tial bene ts to policy-makers and scientists in this area. We believe that the methods described in this book are applicable to other areas of environmental epidemiology, particularly those areas involving spatial{temporal exposures.

Environmental epidemiology is the study of disease and environmental determinants of disease in humans, for example air pollution, water contamination, pesticides and telephone masts. This book describes the methods of environmental epidemiology and provides practical guidance on how to conduct studies on environmental problems and health effects.

Environmental epidemiology plays a critical role in public health, providing a scientific approach to understanding and describing the relationship between human health and the physical, chemical, biological, and psychosocial factors in the environment- information that is vitally important to public health planning, policy, and prevention strategies.

A comprehensive survey of the epidemiology of common environmental exposures, this volume covers diet, water, particulates in outdoor air, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, environmental tobacco smoke, radon in homes, electromagnetic fields, and lead. Design and analysis issues, risk assessment and meta-analysis, and future directions in environmental epidemiology are also discussed. All chapters provide a review of the relevant literature as well as an overview of important methodologic issues, particularly exposure assessment and statistical methods. Most of these exposures are widespread and low-level, and are thought to increase the risk of chronic diseases that have many causes. Even though the disease risks due to these exposures may be low, the public health burden may be significant because large numbers of people are exposed. Such exposures are inherently difficult to detect via observational epidemiology. This book clarifies the problems and suggests ways to move forward. It will be useful to students and practitioners of public health, environmental health, and epidemiology.

This informative book is valuable to a broad spectrum of individuals active in the environmental and health sciences, including chemists, epidemiologists, and mathematics modelers, as well as those involved with measurement and effects of numerous kinds of drinking water contamination and both indoor and ambient air pollution. Environmental researchers involved with human exposure to toxic substances, regulators and administrators will also find this work of value.

Preceded by Exposure assessment in occupational and environmental epidemiology / edited by Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen. 1st ed. 2003.