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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Marie Lynn Miranda, PhD¹, M. Alicia Overstreet, BS¹, Joshua Tootoo¹, Andy Hull¹, Dohyeong Kim¹, Jeffrey Davis, BS², Charla Wilson¹, and Stesha Doku¹. (1) Children's Environmental Health Initiative, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708-0328, 919-613-8088, mao1@duke.edu, (2) Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, PO Box 90328, Durham, NC, NC 27708

Environmental exposures and health care access are increasingly being recognized and understood as determining factors for adverse health outcomes. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used to analyze environmental exposures at many geographic resolutions. GIS can also serve as a tool to manage and analyze the spatial distribution of patients, health care providers, and relevant access networks that might affect the utilization of and access to health care. We present methods to develop generalizable GIS-based applications for small area analysis to support integrated health strategies incorporating both clinical care and housing-related aspects of health. We use asthma as a representative health outcome in an effort to generate a standard methodology for developing spatially based analytical models for supporting and informing health programs. We combine environmental exposure modeling data, environmental sampling data collected from area homes, neighborhood characteristics, transportation networks, and health outcome information geocoded at the tax parcel level in a GIS to analyze the association between the environment and respiratory health outcomes in geographically and socioeconomically distinct North Carolina counties. The GIS includes pharmacy, health and fitness, and other point of service locations. The products of these analyses can be published for web based applications to provide doctors and pharmacists with more comprehensive information about their patients' local environments and resources, as well as access to health care services. They can also be delivered directly to the lay public through community-based groups and other outreach efforts.

Learning Objectives:

• 1)Assess applicability of GIS for overall health management
• 2)Create geographically linked housing and health datasets for understanding the full context in which adverse outcomes occur
• 3)Understand how to protect patient confidentiality while incorporating highly resolved spatial data into health care decision-making frameworks

Keywords: Geographic Information Systems, Health Information Systems

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No