Establishing links between air quality and health: Searching for the impossible?
Establishing links between air quality and health: Searching for the impossible?
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DOI：
10.1016/0277-9536(95)00182-4
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发表时间：
1996-03-01
影响因子：
5.4
通讯作者：
Kingham, S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dunn, C;Kingham, S
环境空间流行病学的传统方法依赖于评估环境污染和健康不良之间的假定联系，通常是对被认为是公共健康问题的反应；显然，可能有必要超越这一阶段，以确定潜在因果机制的性质。不同的学科以不同的方式处理这个问题。许多毒物学家倾向于基于空气质量监测的方法，在这种方法中，候选污染物水平的上升可能会随后产生关于有害健康影响的假设。然而，流行病学家评估人群的健康状况，然后寻找相关原因。本文认为，这两种方法都不是完全令人满意的，需要两种方法的结合。如果健康状况和空气质量都有空间参考数据，则需要使用大气扩散模型和地理信息系统等技术进行地理分析，以检查可能的联系。我们使用英格兰北部环境流行病学研究的经验例子，讨论了这些方法的好处和限制。考虑到这类研究涉及的问题，再加上高昂的成本，这篇论文提出了一个问题：我们是在寻找不可能的事情吗？
Traditional approaches in environmental spatial epidemiology have relied on assessing postulated links between environmental pollution and ill health, often as a response to a perceived public health problem; clearly it may be necessary to go beyond this stage in order to establish the nature of potential causal mechanisms. Different disciplines approach this issue in different ways. Many toxicologists favour approaches based on air quality monitoring, where raised levels of candidate pollutants may subsequently generate hypotheses about adverse health effects. Epidemiologists, however, assess the health of a population and then look for an associated cause. This paper suggests that neither approach is completely satisfactory and that a combination of both is needed. If spatially referenced data are available for both health status and air quality, then geographical analysis is needed to examine possible links, by using techniques such as atmospheric dispersion modelling and Geographical Information Systems. We discuss the benefits and constraints of these approaches, using empirical examples of environmental epidemiology studies for northern England. Taking into account the problems involved in such studies, allied to the high costs incorporated, the paper asks the question: Are we searching for the impossible?