The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #70327

Ying-Ying Meng, DrPH, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 10911 Weyburn Avenue Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90024-2887, 310 794-2931, yymeng@ucla.edu, Jennifer Mann, PhD, School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology, University of California at Berkely, 1918 University Avenue, Suite 3C, Berkeley, CA 94704, Michael A. Heumann, MPH, MA, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology, Department of Human Services, Health Services, 800 NE Oregon Street, Suite 827, Portland, OR 97232, and John Balmes, MD, School of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, University of California at Berkeley, MC#7360, Berkeley, CA 94720.

Both the University of California (UC) and the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) are funded by the CDC to work as partners toward the development of a national environmental public health tracking (EPHT) network. A key feature of the EPHT network is the linkage of exposure and health outcome data. The UC Center of Excellence is collaborating with western state programs developing or implementing EPHT networks. ODHS is funded to build partnerships and infrastructure to plan for a statewide EPHT network. Asthma has been identified as one of the conditions for which tracking of environmental factors and health outcomes might be important for ultimately reducing the burden of disease. Ambient air pollution has been demonstrated to lead to asthma exacerbations. UC is conducting a project to link exposure data from the state’s air pollution monitoring network with asthma outcome data from the statewide California Health Interview Survey (CHIS); a telephone survey providing a representative sample of the state’s population that identified more than 8,000 respondents with asthma. Asthma cases in CHIS will be linked to air pollution using GIS to estimate their exposure. A case-control study comparing asthmatics with active disesase and those with quiescent disease will also be conducted using the linked data. The ODHS is using an oversample of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data in Oregon to estimate asthma prevalence in adults. UC and the ODHS are collaborating to assess whether the UC approach could add value to Oregon’s linked asthma surveillance.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how research by Centers of Excellence can inform planning decisions in states that are in the process of building statewide environmental public health tracking networks

Keywords: Asthma, Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Grantee recipient from CDC.