Geographical and Environmental Epidemiology Methods for Small-Area Studies

by Elliott, Paul; Cuzick, Jack; English, Dallas; Stern, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780192622358
• ISBN10: 0192622358
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-09-12
• Publisher: Published on behalf of the World Health Organization

Summary

This book is the first to address 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 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-leukemia cluster, environmental clusters of mesothelioma in Turkey, the investigation of disease following the industrial accident at Sevesco, and a multi-source study of cancer incidence around incinerators.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	xv
Part I: Introduction	1	(34)
Geographical epidemiology and ecological studies	3	(11)
D. English
Small-area studies: purpose and methods	14	(8)
J. Cuzick
P. Elliott
Health and the environment: the significance of chemicals and radiation	22	(13)
G. K. Matthew
Part II: Data, computational methods, and mapping	35	(142)
Mortality data	37	(14)
A. D. Lopez
Cancer incidence data for adults	51	(12)
A. J. Swerdlow
Cancer incidence data for children	63	(9)
G. J. Draper
D. M. Parkin
Congenital anomalies	72	(17)
H. Dolk
P. De Wals
Specialized registers	89	(7)
A. Ahlbom
N. Hammar
Population counts in small areas	96	(10)
I. Diamond
Use of routine data in studies of point sources of environmental pollution	106	(9)
P. Elliott
I. Kleinschmidt
A. J. Westlake
Socio-economic confounding	115	(10)
D. J. Jolley
B. Jarman
P. Elliott
Use of record linkage in small-area studies	125	(7)
E. Pukkala
Confidentiality	132	(9)
M. J. Quinn
Practical approaches to disease mapping	141	(10)
M. Smans
J. Esteve
Estimating environmental exposure	151	(7)
G. A. Zapponi
Mapping environmental exposure	158	(19)
D. J. Briggs
Part III: Statistical methods	177	(74)
Introduction	179	(2)
Statistical methods for geographical correlation studies	181	(24)
S. Richardson
Bayesian methods for mapping disease risk	205	(16)
D. Clayton
L. Bernardinelli
Statistical methods for analysing point-source exposures	221	(10)
J. F. Bithell
Some comments on methods for investigating disease risk around a point source	231	(7)
M. Hills
Methods for the assessment of disease clusters	238	(13)
F. E. Alexander
J. Cuzick
Part IV: Studies of health and the environment	251	(36)
Environmental epidemiology: a historical perspective	253	(11)
B. Terracini
Guidelines for the investigation of clusters of adverse health events	264	(14)
R. B. Rothenberg
S. B. Thacker
Studies of disease clustering: problems of interpretation	278	(9)
J. Urquhart
Part V: Case studies	287	(86)
Introduction	288	(3)
Childhood leukaemia around the Sellafield nuclear plant	291	(19)
M. J. Gardner
The epidemic of respiratory cancer associated with erionite fibres in the Cappadocian region of Turkey	310	(13)
Y. I. Baris
L. Simonato
R. Saracci
R. Winkelmann
Soya bean as a risk factor for epidemic asthma	323	(19)
J. M. Anto
J. Sunyer
The Seveso accident	342	(17)
P. A. Bertazzi
A. C. Pesatori
C. Zocchetti
Cancer of the larynx and lung near incinerators of waste solvents and oils in Britain	359	(9)
P. Elliott
J. A. Beresford
D. J. Jolley
S. H. Pattenden
M. Hills
A study of geographical correlations in China	368	(5)
R. Peto
J. Chen
T. C. Campbell
J. Li
J. Boreham
Z. Feng
L. Youngman
Index	373