Analysis of Pollution Hazard Intensity: A Spatial Epidemiology Case Study of Soil Pb Contamination.

Heavy industrialization has resulted in the contamination of soil by metals from anthropogenic sources in Anniston, Alabama. This situation calls for increased public awareness of the soil contamination issue and better knowledge of the main factors contributing to the potential sources contaminating residential soil. The purpose of this spatial epidemiology research is to describe the effects of physical factors on the concentration of lead (Pb) in soil in Anniston AL, and to determine the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of those residing in areas with higher soil contamination.

Analysis of heavy metal sources in soil using kriging interpolation on principal components.

Anniston, Alabama has a long history of operation of foundries and other heavy industry. We assessed the extent of heavy metal contamination in soils by determining the concentrations of 11 heavy metals (Pb, As, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Mn, Hg, Ni, V, and Zn) based on 2046 soil samples collected from 595 industrial and residential sites. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was adopted to characterize the distribution of heavy metals in soil in this region.

Weight estimation and significance testing for three focused statistics.

Focused tests for clustering are designed to determine whether there is statistical evidence for raised incidence of some phenomenon around a prespecified location. The tests require definition of what is meant by 'around' the location, and this is achieved by specifying weights associated with surrounding locations. Different weight specifications will yield different levels of statistical significance, and because of the difficulty in knowing how to define the weights, it is tempting to try different definitions with the hope of finding one that is highly significant.

Clusters in irregular areas and lattices.

Geographic areas of different sizes and shapes of polygons that represent counts or rate data are often encountered in social, economic, health, and other information. Often political or census boundaries are used to define these areas because the information is available only for those geographies. Therefore, these types of boundaries are frequently used to define neighborhoods in spatial analyses using geographic information systems and related approaches such as multilevel models.

Optimal geographic scales for local spatial statistics.

Local spatial statistics are used to test for spatial association in some variable of interest, and to test for clustering around predefined locations. Such statistics require that a neighbourhood be defined around the location of interest. This is done by specifying weights for surrounding regions, and this is tantamount to specification of the scale at which the local dependence or clustering is tested.

Optimization of aeromedical base locations in New Mexico using a model that considers crash nodes and paths.

In a recent paper, Tokar Erdemir et al. (2008) introduce models for service systems with service requests originating from both nodes and paths. We demonstrate how to apply and extend their approach to an aeromedical base location application, with specific focus on the state of New Mexico (NM).

Case-control study of the effects of trihalomethanes on urinary bladder cancer risk.

In this research, the authors examined the relation between the estimated concentrations in drinking water of disinfectant byproduct (DBP) trihalomethanes (THMs) and the risk for urinary bladder cancer in a case-control study of 567 white men aged 35 to 90 years, in western New York State. They used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORS) and to assess the effects of THM consumption on cancer risk. Higher levels of consumption of THMs led to increased risk for cancer of the urinary bladder (total 551, a composite measure of THMs based upon method 551 developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency: OR = 2.

Exposure to traffic emissions throughout life and risk of breast cancer: the Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer (WEB) study.

Objective: We previously reported that total suspended particulates exposure (a measure of air pollution) at the time of birth was related to increased postmenopausal breast cancer risk. In this study, we examined breast cancer risk in relation to exposure to air pollution from traffic emissions throughout life.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study of breast cancer.

Case control study of the geographic variability of exposure to disinfectant byproducts and risk for rectal cancer.

Background: Levels of byproducts that result from the disinfection of drinking water vary within a water distribution system. This prompted us to question whether the risk for rectal cancer also varies, depending upon one's long term geographic location within the system. Such a geographic distribution in rectal cancer risk would follow naturally from an association between level of byproduct and rectal cancer risk.

Recent changes in the spatial pattern of prostate cancer in the U.S.

Introduction: Spatial-temporal trends in prostate cancer mortality are of interest because of the introduction and increasing use of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening test after 1986. This article describes spatial-temporal changes in U.S.

Statistical methods for the detection of spatial clustering in case-control data.

In this paper, I develop new approaches for the detection of spatial clustering in case-control data. One method is based upon drawing Thiessen polygons around each control. It is unnecessary to actually draw or compute the boundaries of the polygons; it is sufficient to count, for each control, the number of cases that are closer to that control than to any other control.

Geographical variation of cerebrovascular disease in New York State: the correlation with income.

Background: Income is known to be associated with cerebrovascular disease; however, little is known about the more detailed relationship between cerebrovascular disease and income. We examined the hypothesis that the geographical distribution of cerebrovascular disease in New York State may be predicted by a nonlinear model using income as a surrogate socioeconomic risk factor.

Results: We used spatial clustering methods to identify areas with high and low prevalence of cerebrovascular disease at the ZIP code level after smoothing rates and correcting for edge effects; geographic locations of high and low clusters of cerebrovascular disease in New York State were identified with and without income adjustment.

Use of CUSUM and Shewhart charts to monitor regional trends of birth defect reports in New York State.

Background: Cumulative sum (CUSUM) charts were originally developed for industrial quality control, but may be adapted for the surveillance of health outcome data, such as birth defects. The reported prevalence of birth defects can vary due to differences in case ascertainment, surveillance practices, or true changes in prevalence. We examined the utility of CUSUM and Shewhart charts for detect-ing changes in prevalence of two different birth defect groups.

Population distribution and redistribution of the baby-boom cohort in the United States: recent trends and implications.

Over 70 million people were born into the baby-boom cohort between 1946 and 1964. Over 65 million of these individuals are presently alive, and thus the cohort continues to exert a powerful influence on regional population change in the United States. In this article, we examine the recent and current geographic distribution of the baby-boom cohort.

Secondhand smoke exposure in early life and the risk of breast cancer among never smokers (United States).

Evidence is increasing that some early life exposures affect breast cancer risk. Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) during childhood may be one such exposure. As part of the WEB Study (Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer Study), we conducted a population-based, case-control study with 1166 women aged 35 to 79 diagnosed with histologically confirmed, primary, incident breast cancer.

Assessing spatio-temporal variability of risk surfaces using residential history data in a case control study of breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Most analyses of spatial clustering of disease have been based on either residence at the time of diagnosis or current residence. An underlying assumption in these analyses is that residence can be used as a proxy for environmental exposure. However, exposures earlier in life and not just those in the most recent period may be of significance.

Approaches to syndromic surveillance when data consist of small regional counts.

Introduction: Statistical systems designed for syndromic surveillance often must be able to monitor data received simultaneously from multiple regions. Such data might be of limited size, which would eliminate the possibility of using more common surveillance methods that assume data from a normal distribution.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to design and illustrate a multiregional surveillance system based on data inputs consisting of small regional counts, where frequencies are typically on the order of View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Breast cancer risk and exposure in early life to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using total suspended particulates as a proxy measure.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are ubiquitous in the environment. We hypothesized that early life exposure to PAHs may have particular importance in the etiology of breast cancer. We conducted a population-based, case-control study of ambient exposure to PAHs in early life in relation to the risk of breast cancer.

Geographic clustering of residence in early life and subsequent risk of breast cancer (United States).

Objective: This study focused on geographic clustering of breast cancer based on residence in early life and identified spatio-temporal clustering of cases and controls.

Methods: Data were drawn from the WEB study (Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer Study), a population-based case-control study of incident, pathologically confirmed breast cancer (1996-2001) in Erie and Niagara counties. Controls were frequency-matched to cases on age, race, and county of residence.

Monitoring change in spatial patterns of disease: comparing univariate and multivariate cumulative sum approaches.

Prospective disease surveillance has gained increasing attention, particularly in light of recent concern for quick detection of bioterrorist events. Monitoring of health events has the potential for the detection of such events, but the benefits of surveillance extend much more broadly to the quick detection of change in public health. In this paper, univariate and multivariate cumulative sum methods for disease surveillance are compared.

Geographic clustering of adult asthma hospitalization and residential exposure to pollution at a United States-Canada border crossing.

Objectives: We conducted a case-control study of adulthood asthma and point-source respirable particulate air pollution with asthma-diagnosed case patients (n = 3717) and gastroenteritis-diagnosed control patients (n = 4129) to determine effects of particulate air pollution on public health.

Methods: We used hospitalization data from Buffalo, NY, neighborhoods for a 5-year period (1996 through 2000), geographic information systems techniques, the Diggle method, and statistical analysis to compare the locations of case patients and control patients in terms of proximity to different known pollution sources in the study area.

Results: We found a clustering of asthma cases in close proximity to the Peace Bridge Complex and the freeways and a dose-response relationship indicating a decreased risk of asthma prevalence the farther an individual resides from the source of exposure.

Positional accuracy of geocoded addresses in epidemiologic research.

Background: Geographic information systems (GIS) offer powerful techniques for epidemiologists. Geocoding is an important step in the use of GIS in epidemiologic research, and the validity of epidemiologic studies using this methodology depends, in part, on the positional accuracy of the geocoding process.

Methods: We conducted a study comparing the validity of positions geocoded with a commercially available program to positions determined by Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite receivers.

Evaluating the reliability of automated collision notification systems.

The use of an automated collision notification (ACN) device in vehicles can greatly reduce the time between crash occurrence and notification of emergency medical services (EMSs). Most ACN devices rely on cellular technology to report important crash information to the proper authorities. The objective of this study was to examine the ability of the existing western New York cellular analog system to support ACN systems.