Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112662

William Lambert, PhD, Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 Sam Jackson Park Road, L606, Portland, OR 97239, (503) 494-9488, lambertw@ohsu.edu

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease affecting the brain and central nervous system. Scattered demylination leads to loss of muscular coordination and fatigue, and in some patients, speech and vision are impaired. Epidemiological evidence suggests that this disorder is caused by environmental influences on genetically susceptible individuals. Although there is no evidence for a single cause, suspected causative agents include viruses, diet, cigarette smoking; chemicals, and ionizing radiation. There is increasing public concern about clusters of MS and other autoimmune diseases near hazardous waste sites. Public health agencies are requested to investigate and make assessments, however standard methods have not yet been developed for the evaluation of reported clusters. The capture-recapture method offers a potentially less expensive and time-consuming approach than conventional case-finding. We have applied the capture-recapture method to develop county-level prevalence estimates of MS near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Sources of data include neurology practices, diagnostic and treatment centers, state vital statistics databases, and service organizations. We evaluated the accuracy of the source lists, defined overlapping and missed cases, modeled county counts and confidence intervals, and calculated gender- and age-specific prevalence using census data for denominators.

Learning Objectives: The learning objectives for this presentation are

(
• to develop an understanding of the capture-recapture method, its data requirements, steps, strengths and limitations, and (
• to evaluate its application to MS surveillance.

Keywords: Surveillance, Epidemiology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation