Spatio Temporal Methods In 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.

Spatio-Temporal Methods in Environmental Epidemiology with R, like its First Edition, explores the interface between environmental epidemiology and spatio-temporal modeling. It links recent developments in spatio-temporal theory with epidemiological applications. Drawing on real-life problems, it shows how recent advances in methodology can assess the health risks associated with environmental hazards. The book's clear guidelines enable the implementation of the methodology and estimation of risks in practice. New additions to the Second Edition include: a thorough exploration of the underlying concepts behind knowledge discovery through data; a new chapter on extracting information from data using R and the tidyverse; additional material on methods for Bayesian computation, including the use of NIMBLE and Stan; new methods for performing spatio-temporal analysis and an updated chapter containing further topics. Throughout the book there are new examples, and the presentation of R code for examples has been extended. Along with these additions, the book now has a GitHub site (https://spacetime-environ.github.io/stepi2) that contains data, code and further worked examples. Features: • Explores the interface between environmental epidemiology and spatio­-temporal modeling • Incorporates examples that show how spatio-temporal methodology can inform societal concerns about the effects of environmental hazards on health • Uses a Bayesian foundation on which to build an integrated approach to spatio-temporal modeling and environmental epidemiology • Discusses data analysis and topics such as data visualization, mapping, wrangling and analysis • Shows how to design networks for monitoring hazardous environmental processes and the ill effects of preferential sampling • Through the listing and application of code, shows the power of R, tidyverse, NIMBLE and Stan and other modern tools in performing complex data analysis and modeling Representing a continuing important 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. Readers will learn how to identify and model patterns in spatio-temporal data and how to exploit dependencies over space and time to reduce bias and inefficiency when estimating risks to health.

"Spatio-Temporal Methods in Environmental Epidemiology with R, Second Edition 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 MED, 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. New to this edition: Includes a new chapter on data science Updated material on measurement error, deterministic modeling, infectious diseases, and preferential sampling Introduces modern computational methods, including INLA, together with code for implementation Represents a major new direction in environmental epidemiology, this book-in full color throughout-underscoring 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"--

Handbook of Spatial Epidemiology explains how to model epidemiological problems and improve inference about disease etiology from a geographical perspective. Top epidemiologists, geographers, and statisticians share interdisciplinary viewpoints on analyzing spatial data and space-time variations in disease incidences. These analyses can provide imp

Spatiotemporal Environmental Health Modelling: A Tractatus Stochasticus provides a holistic, conceptual and quantitative framework for Environmental Health Modelling in space-time. The holistic framework integrates two aspects of Environmental Health Science that have been previously treated separately: the environmental aspect, which involves the natural processes that bring about human exposure to harmful substances; and the health aspect, which focuses on the interactions of these substances with the human body. Some of the fundamental issues addressed in this work include variability, scale, uncertainty, and space-time connectivity. These topics are important in the characterization of natural systems and health processes. Spatiotemporal Environmental Health Modelling: A Tractatus Stochasticus explains why modern stochastics is the appropriate mechanical vehicle for addressing such issues in a rigorous way. In particular, modern stochastics incorporates concepts and methods from probability, classical statistics, geostatistics, statistical mechanics and field theory. The authors present a synthetic view of environmental health that embraces all of the various components and focuses on their mutual interactions. Spatiotemporal Environmental Health Modeling: A Tractatus Stochasticus includes new material on Bayesian maximum entropy estimation techniques and space-time random field estimation methods. The authors show why these methods have clear advantages over the classical geostatistical estimation procedures and how they can be used to provide accurate space-time maps of environmental health processes. Also included are expositions of diagrammatic perturbation and renormalization group analysis, which have not been previously discussed within the context of Environmental Health. Finally, the authors present stochastic indicators that can be used for large-scale characterization of contamination and investigations of health effects at the microscopic level. This book will be a useful reference to both researchers and practitioners of Environmental Health Sciences. It will appeal specifically to environmental engineers, geographers, geostatisticians, earth scientists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, pharmacologists, applied mathematicians, physicists and biologists.

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.

Essentials of Environmental Epidemiology for Health Protection guides front line public health practitioners through the decisions they are likely to face when dealing with environmental health problems. It does this by showing how to integrate relevant aspects of environmental science, communication sciences, toxicology, and most importantly environmental epidemiology skills to conduct initial investigations which encompass all relevant issues. The book uses a problem orientated style, using case studies, to provide practical examples of how to plan and carry out investigations or research projects. It emphasises the scoping and planning stages of a study in order to avoid common pitfalls, and includes discussions of the limitations of epidemiological studies, how to communicate with the public and funders, ethics and handling large datasets. Through the case studies the book also covers the practice of environmental public health in developed countries. Each chapter is written by knowledgeable practitioners in the topic, making Essentials of Environmental Epidemiology for Health Protection essential reading for all professionals in environmental public health in the UK and abroad.