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Environmental Epidemiology, Volume 2 Use of the Gray Literature and Other Data in Environmental Epidemiology (1997) / Chapter Skim
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8 Major Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 173-180

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From page 173...
... , the committee believes that it would be useful to establish guidelines to determine the circumstances under which epidemiologic studies should be undertaken. In some cases, there may be appropriate responses to public concerns other than initiating an epidemiologic study, for example, using existing evidence to address the concern.
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From page 174...
... Also, it may be possible to group related health outcomes in ways that increase statistical power. Many adverse reproductive outcomes are uncommon, so that even a large relative risk may be difficult to detect.
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From page 175...
... The committee recommends that ATSDR examine the merits of developing an electronic directory of on-going environmental-epidemiology studies that includes sufficient statistical results, if available, with the publication status of the study. Although the limitations of studies in the gray literature may not be completely avoided, the committee believes that it would be useful to establish guidelines to improve the credibility and utility of the studies.
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From page 176...
... Ecologic studies, although they lack the detail available in studies that define individual exposures and are not often helpful in quantifying relations between exposure and disease, provide relatively inexpensive access to large populations. New methods for estimating exposure in ecologic studies may address some of the common concerns with ecologic analysis and improve its usefulness in environmental epidemiology.
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From page 177...
... The development of these and other techniques for advancing exposure assessment should be supported. Health outcomes of interest to environmental epidemiologists range from syndromes or constellations of clinical measures of physiologic or neurobehavioral function to well-characterized diseases, such as cancer.
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From page 178...
... Common definitions and specifiers of disease or health status, of geographic location, and of chemicals and other relevant data items would also enhance usability of these systems. Entities outside government have a legitimate need for access to data collected by government agencies and for linking data from different data systems.
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From page 179...
... is an effective tool, particularly for the multifactorial outcomes generally examined in environmental epidemiology. In carrying out such statistical modeling, one must recognize that relations between environmental toxicants and health outcomes may be nonlinear.
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Key Terms

  • environmental epidemiology
  • environmental exposures
  • chronic diseases
  • external scientific
  • common limitation

  • adequate information
  • toxic substances
  • exposure assessment
  • time trends
  • gaps exist

  • epidemiologic studies
  • ecologic studies
  • establish guidelines
  • ecologic analysis
  • scientific approaches

  • cohort studies
  • personal monitors
  • health study
  • discount data
  • evaluate chronic

  • study populations
  • deliberate effort
  • geographic regions
  • major obstacle
  • improving exposure

  • care financing
  • confidential identifiers
  • indoor heating
  • renal dialysis
  • political pressures


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