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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Ravi K. Sharma, PhD¹, Xiaohui Xu², Evelyn Talbot, DrPH², LuAnn Brink, PhD², and Jeanne Zborowski². (1) Dept. of Behavioral & Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburg - Graduate School of Public Health, 228 Parran Hall, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburg, PA 15261, 412-383-7717, rks1946@pitt.edu, (2) Graduate School of Public Health- Dept of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburg Academic Partner of Excellence in EPHT, 510 Parran Hall, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburg, PA 15261

Federal, state and local agencies hold a wealth of environmental and health data, which, if linked and analyzed appropriately, can contribute to our understating of the environmental causes of health and illness. However, significant methodological challenges are relevant to using existing environmental hazard and health outcome data. The objective of this paper is to describe the richness of data for environmental public health tracking and linkage accessible at a local health department, describe its limitations, illustrate the application of spatial linkage of various datasets and demonstrate the use of selected exploratory spatial data analysis tools in visualization, exploration and model building.

Examples of application of technologies to existing datasets will be presented: 1) Analysis of spatial and temporal trends in low birth weight, prematurity and congenital abnormalities, geocoded to census tract and linked to ArcGIS basemap using census tract as the linking variable. Clusters of adverse pregnancy outcomes were assessed, adjusting for race and education before undertaking spatial-temporal analysis. 2) Linkage of environmental hazards to reproductive outcomes described above. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania maintains a network of 21 ambient air monitors strategically located throughout the county for assessment of SO2, CO, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, and others. Four sites measure wind and temperature. An earlier study analyzed the relationship of six criteria pollutants to low birth weight and preterm delivery since previous research had suggested such a relationship. Mean pollutant values from 21 monitoring stations were interpolated (using spatial interpolation) to obtain pollutant values for all 499 census tracts in Allegheny County.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe the types of environmental hazard and health outcomes data available within local health departments for potential data linkage
• Describe the strengths and limitations of available data for environmental public health tracking initiatives
• Discuss the application of spatial linkage of various datasets
• Demonstrate the use of selected exploratory spatial data analytical tools in visualization, exploration and model building.

Keywords: Environmental Health, Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation