Exposure Insights Using GIS in a Case-Control Study

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的地理信息 对儿童白血病病因的系统研究不仅旨在 推动流行病学方法的最新发展， 更好地理解环境污染物的致病作用。的 研究采用了GIS分析能力的创新应用，以解决 传统流行病学的一些基本缺陷。它将建立 对儿童癌症模式的第一次大规模GIS研究之一， 儿童白血病最广泛的病例对照研究之一 在美国进行的。因此，它代表了 地理信息系统作为一种分析工具的演变。一个关键目标是解决问题 描述个人暴露机会的范围， 特别是对于可能遇到的化学制剂的范围， 从环境源的住宅设置。拟定研究 围绕着一个假设，即围产期或生命早期暴露于 环境化学品与发展的风险增加有关 儿童白血病。本项目关注的主要暴露源 包括农业杀虫剂、机动车排放物和其他污染源， 空气毒物该项目将创建个性化的基于地理的 根据居住和学校历史数据构建的暴露估计值 在加州大学伯克利分校/加州正在进行的一项研究的前五年收集的 卫生服务部病例对照研究，通过测量空气校准 监测数据，并通过实验室分析家庭粉尘进行验证 和空气样本。这些暴露估计数将应用于 病例对照研究（估计共660例病例和1052例对照 在本项目第2年加入），以评估风险关系， 调整重要协变量。该研究提供了足够的力量， 即使是轻微的变化，也能检测到与环境风险因素相关的变化。 化学物质的关注。拟议的项目提出了一个不寻常的 有机会扩展GIS工具的功能，以帮助流行病学家 在确定人口暴露的属性时，为了验证生成的暴露属性， 并将这些估计与个别措施相结合， 综合评估环境风险因素在 这些鲜为人知的疾病的病因。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed geographic information system-based study of the causes of childhood leukemia is not only designed to advance the state-of-the-art in epidemiologic methods, but also to lead to greater understanding of the etiologic role of environmental pollutants. The study employs an innovative application of GIS analytic capability to address some of the fundamental shortcomings of traditional epidemiology. It will build on one of the first large-scale GIS studies of patterns of childhood cancer, and one of the most extensive case-control studies of childhood leukemia undertaken in the US. As such, it represents an important direction in the evolution of GIS as an analysis tool. A key objective is to solve the problem of characterizing the spectrum of exposure opportunity to individuals, especially for the range of chemical agents potentially encountered in residential settings from environmental sources. The proposed study is organized around the hypothesis that perinatal or early life exposures to environmental chemicals are associated with increased risk of developing childhood leukemia. Primary exposure sources of concern for this project include agricultural pesticides, motor vehicle emissions, and other sources of air toxicants. The project will create individualized geographically-based estimates of exposure constructed from residential and school history data collected in the first five years of an ongoing UC Berkeley/California Department of Health Services case-control study, calibrated by measured air monitoring data and validated by means of laboratory analyses of household dust and air samples. These exposure estimates will be applied to the full case-control study (an estimated total of 660 cases and 1052 controls accessioned by year-2 of this project) to assess risk relationships, with adjustment for important covariables. The study offers sufficient power to detect even modest changes in environmental risk factors associated with the chemical agents of concern. The proposed project presents an unusual opportunity to extend the capabilities of GIS tools to assist epidemiologists in attributing population exposures, to validate generated exposure attributes, and to integrate these estimates with individual measures for a more comprehensive assessment of the role of environmental risk factors in the etiology of these little understood diseases.