Geographic Information Systems: Their Use in Environmental Epidemiologic Research

Vine, Marilyn F.; Degnan, Darrah; Hanchette, Carol

doi:10.2307/3433605

Cited by 67 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Several of the reported limitations of using a GIS (Vine et al, 1997 ) apply to our study as well. The major problem was the availability of historic data.…”

Section: Application Of Gismentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Address geocoding based upon the six -position postal code was successful for 99.5% of the study population. For studies in the US, it has been reported that automated address matching was poor for rural areas (match rate of 20 -30% ) and much higher (98% ) for the largest urbanized county in North Carolina (Vine et al, 1997 ). A study in San Diego County reported a 85% address match, with missing data due in part to listing of PO boxes and incomplete addresses (English et al, 1999 ) .…”

Section: Application Of Gismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent development is the use of Geographic Information Systems ( GIS ) to estimate individual exposure to air pollution in large-scale epidemiologic studies (Vine et al, 1997 ). In the SAVIAH study, individual exposure estimates for study subjects were generated based on concentration measurements at a limited number of sites and prediction of these concentrations using data on explanatory variables available in a GIS ( Briggs et al, 1997 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Estimation of long-term average exposure to outdoor air pollution for a cohort study on mortality

Hoek

Fischer

Brandt

et al. 2001

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

137

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Recent prospective cohort studies have suggested that long -term exposure to low levels of particulate matter ( PM ) air pollution is associated with increased mortality due to, especially, cardio -pulmonary disease. Exposure to ambient air pollution was estimated mostly as city average concentrations, assuming homogenous exposure within the city. We used an ongoing cohort study -The Netherlands Cohort Study ( NLCS ) on diet and cancer -to investigate the relationship between traffic -related air pollution and mortality. The baseline data collection took place in 1986. A study was conducted to develop methods for exposure assessment and evaluate the contrast in exposure to air pollution within the cohort. Assessment of long -term exposure to two traffic -related air pollutants, Black Smoke ( BS ) and Nitrogen Dioxide ( NO 2 ) , consisted of separate estimation of regional background, urban background, and local traffic contributions at the home address. Interpolation of concentration data from a routine monitoring network was used to estimate the regional background concentration. A regression model relating degree of urbanization to air pollution was used to allow for differences between different towns / neighborhoods of cities. Distance to major roads was calculated to characterize local traffic contributions, using a Geographic Information System ( GIS ) . Interpolation resulted in reasonably precise regional background estimation when distant sites were not used and distance squared was used as the weight. Cross -validation showed that prediction errors were about 15% of the range in regional background concentration. Urban and local scales contributed significantly to the contrast within the cohort. Prediction errors for estimating the urban background were about 25% of the range in background concentrations. When the developed model was applied to the study cohort, there was substantial contrast in estimated exposure to BS and NO 2 . About 90% of the study population lived 10 years or more at its 1986 home address -supporting the use of the estimated concentration at the 1986 address as a relevant exposure variable.

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“…Several of the reported limitations of using a GIS (Vine et al, 1997 ) apply to our study as well. The major problem was the availability of historic data.…”

Section: Application Of Gismentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Application Of Gismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Estimation of long-term average exposure to outdoor air pollution for a cohort study on mortality

Hoek

Fischer

Brandt

et al. 2001

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For some tree pest control programs, records include mapped application areas, identification of specific pesticides used, and information about application rates and methods, whether aerial or ground -based. These records come closest to meeting the goals for GIS in health studies to include spatial, temporal, and intensity information (Vine et al, 1997 ). However, for many tree pest control activities, application areas could not be mapped within towns, or other information was missing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data are organized in ''coverages'' that include geographic information with an associated table of attributes. In health studies, spatial coordinates are linked with temporal and quantitative information representing the dates and levels of exposure (Vine et al, 1997 ). Coverages may be grouped together in one map as if they were transparencies layered on an overhead projector, and new maps may be created by manipulating multiple coverages and using algorithms to model environmental processes.…”

Section: Gis In Exposure Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using GIS and historical records to reconstruct residential exposure to large-scale pesticide application

Brody

Vorhees²,

Melly

et al. 2002

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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Investigation of pesticide impacts on human health depends on good measures of exposure. Historical exposure data are needed to study health outcomes, such as cancer, that involve long latency periods, and other outcomes that are a function of the timing of exposure. Environmental or biological samples collected at the time of epidemiologic study may not represent historical exposure levels. To study the relationship between residential exposure to pesticides and breast cancer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, historical records of pesticide use were integrated into a geographic information system ( GIS ) to estimate exposures from large -scale pesticide applications between 1948 and 1995. Information on pesticide use for gypsy moth and other tree / vegetative pest control, cranberry bog cultivation, other agriculture, mosquito control, recreational turf management, and rights -of -way maintenance is included in the database. Residents living within or near pesticide use areas may be exposed through inhalation due to drift and volatilization and through dermal contact and ingestion at the time of application or in later years from pesticides that deposit on soil, accumulate in crops, or migrate to groundwater. Procedures were developed to use the GIS to estimate the relative intensity of past exposures at each study subject's Cape Cod addresses over the past 40 years, taking into account local meteorological data, distance and direction from a residence to a pesticide use source area, size of the source area, application by ground -based or aerial methods, and persistent or nonpersistent character of the pesticide applied. The resulting individual -level estimates of relative exposure intensity can be used in conjunction with interview data to obtain more complete exposure assessment in an epidemiologic study. While the database can improve environmental epidemiological studies involving pesticides, it simultaneously illustrates important data gaps that cannot be filled. Studies such as this one have the potential to identify preventable causes of disease and guide public policies.

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Role of geographic information systems in birth defects surveillance and research

Siffel

Strickland

Gardner

et al. 2006

Birth Defects Research

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Geographic Information Systems: Their Use in Environmental Epidemiologic Research

Cited by 67 publications

References 5 publications

Estimation of long-term average exposure to outdoor air pollution for a cohort study on mortality

Estimation of long-term average exposure to outdoor air pollution for a cohort study on mortality

Using GIS and historical records to reconstruct residential exposure to large-scale pesticide application

Role of geographic information systems in birth defects surveillance and research

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