Environmental determinants of selected family-oriented health indicators.

Based on the levels of environmental contamination and degradation, synthetic measures of environmental hazards in urban and rural regions in Poland were developed. At the same time, negative family health indicators associated with environmental contamination were determined. These indicators included: low birth weight, fraction of deaths with low birth weight, excessive male and female mortality in the 30-64 age group.

Selected aspects of the population health status in ecological hazard areas in comparison with ecologically "clean area". III. localisation of urban regions with high mortality from all and from the circulatory system diseases.

Territorial localisation of urban regions with particularly high mortality from all diseases and from diseases of the circulatory system in males and females was the aim of the study. Altogether 177 urban regions within ecological hazard areas (EHAs) and 76 urban regions within reference area (RA) were subjected to evaluation. In the group of urban regions in which mortality rate from all diseases exceeded the value of arithmetic mean + 1/2 of standard deviation, 32 urban regions of EHA and 12 of them with RA were selected for assessing male mortality and 44 and 7, respectively, for assessing female mortality.

Selected aspects of the population health status in ecological hazard areas in comparison with ecologically "clean" area. I. Methodology for analysing health status based on the routine data collection system.

A proposal for an integrated system of analysis of complex health problems in ecological hazard areas in comparison with reference least polluted area is presented. The proposed procedure can be used in identifying priorities in health promotion.

Spatial distribution of negative health indices in ecological hazard areas in Poland.

Spatial distribution of negative health indices (relative risk, synthetic measure) was demonstrated in 27 ecological hazard areas (EHAs) in Poland. For comparison reference areas were selected. The health indices were used for developing a general index of harmfulness characteristic for individual EHA.

Selected aspects of the population health status in ecological hazard areas in comparison with ecologically "clean" area. II. Assessment of spatial distribution of mortality.

On the basis of age adjusted rates of mortality from all diseases and from diseases of the circulatory system in female and male populations living in ecological hazard areas and in ecologically "clean" area, the distributions of the rate values were assessed. In the regions under consideration, urban and rural regions were distinguished. The goodness of fit of the empirical distribution to the normal one was assessed using the following statistical parameters: arithmetic mean, mode, median, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, coefficient of asymmetry, difference between the third and the first quartiles, as well as the Chi2 and lambda-Kolmogorow-Smirnow tests, maximum difference between cumulative distribution functions and standard deviation of differences between empirical and theoretical frequencies.