Improving exposure assessment in environmental epidemiology: Application of spatio-temporal visualization tools

Jaymie R. Meliker (), Melissa J. Slotnick, Gillian A. AvRuskin, Andrew Kaufmann, Geoffrey M. Jacquez and Jerome O. Nriagu

Journal of Geographical Systems, 2005, vol. 7, issue 1, 49-66

Abstract: A thorough assessment of human exposure to environmental agents should incorporate mobility patterns and temporal changes in human behaviors and concentrations of contaminants; yet the temporal dimension is often under-emphasized in exposure assessment endeavors, due in part to insufficient tools for visualizing and examining temporal datasets. Spatio-temporal visualization tools are valuable for integrating a temporal component, thus allowing for examination of continuous exposure histories in environmental epidemiologic investigations. An application of these tools to a bladder cancer case-control study in Michigan illustrates continuous exposure life-lines and maps that display smooth, continuous changes over time. Preliminary results suggest increased risk of bladder cancer from combined exposure to arsenic in drinking water (>25 μg/day) and heavy smoking (>30 cigarettes/day) in the 1970s and 1980s, and a possible cancer cluster around automotive, paint, and organic chemical industries in the early 1970s. These tools have broad application for examining spatially- and temporally-specific relationships between exposures to environmental risk factors and disease. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005

Keywords: GIS; exposure; Epidemiology; Arsenic; STIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10109-005-0149-4 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jgeosy:v:7:y:2005:i:1:p:49-66

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ce/journal/10109/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10109-005-0149-4

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Geographical Systems is currently edited by Manfred M. Fischer and Antonio Páez

More articles in Journal of Geographical Systems from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().