ANHE

Epidemiology is a critical public health science that is the study of the association of a disease outcome with an exposure or other variable.  There are some very important epidemiological studies in environmental health, but by and large they are retrospective studies that are the spurred by industrial accidents or spills or clusters of disease that have emanated from an occupational or environmental exposures like a leak or spill.  Such is the case with the Bhopal, India disaster where thousands of people were killed and many more were made sick by a Union Carbide plant leak of methyl isocyanate. 

Other areas in which epidemiological research has been used are lead poisoning, pesticide exposures, and asthma triggers.    In one of his first research studies, Dr. Herbert Needleman, a pediatrician, collected baby teeth that had been lost naturally by 6 and 7 year olds in the Boston area.   He assayed the teeth for the presence of lead and also did a battery of studies with the children.  The presence of lead indicated that those children had at some point been exposed to lead.  It did not differentiate the source of the lead exposure.    He then compared those children with lead exposures and those without with the presence or absence of a set of symptoms, including language skill development, reading readiness, and other cognitive metrics.    His study results indicated a clear correlation between lead and cognitive deficits.

It’s not ethical to intentionally expose people to potentially hazardous chemicals so prospective epidemiological studies are not done.

Molecular epidemiology is a branch of science that focuses on the contribution of potential combined genetic and environmental risk factors, identified at the molecular level, to the etiology, distribution and prevention of disease within families and across populations.[1] This field has emerged from the integration of molecular biology into traditional epidemiologic research. Molecular epidemiology improves our understanding of the pathogenesis of disease by identifying specific pathways, molecules, and genes that influence the risk of developing disease.[2]

epidemiology, molecular epidemiology

essentials

Last updated 461 days ago by Katie Huffling