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Linda Beale,¹ Juan Jose Abellan,^1,2 Susan Hodgson,³ and Lars Jarup¹

¹Small Area Health Statistics Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom; ²CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain; ³Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Abstract
Spatial epidemiology is increasingly being used to assess health risks associated with environmental hazards. Risk patterns tend to have both a temporal and a spatial component ; thus, spatial epidemiology must combine methods from epidemiology, statistics, and geographic information science. Recent statistical advances in spatial epidemiology include the use of smoothing in risk maps to create an interpretable risk surface, the extension of spatial models to incorporate the time dimension, and the combination of individual- and area-level information. Advances in geographic information systems and the growing availability of modeling packages have led to an improvement in exposure assessment. Techniques drawn from geographic information science are being developed to enable the visualization of uncertainty and ensure more meaningful inferences are made from data. When public health concerns related to the environment arise, it is essential to address such anxieties appropriately and in a timely manner. Tools designed to facilitate the investigation process are being developed, although the availability of complete and clean health data, and appropriate exposure data often remain limiting factors. Key words: disease mapping, environmental epidemiology, geographic information systems (GIS) , risk analysis, spatial epidemiology, uncertainty. Environ Health Perspect 116:1105–1110 (2008) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10816 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 25 April 2008]

This article is part of the mini-monograph on spatial epidemiology.

Address correspondence to L. Beale, Imperial College London, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, St. Mary's Campus, Norfolk Place, London, W2 1PG, UK. Telephone: 44-20-7594-3348. Fax: 44-20-7594-3196. E-mail: l.beale@imperial.ac.uk

This work has been partially funded by contract 200-2005-13328 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The work of the Small Area Health Statistics Unit is funded by a grant from the Department of Health for England and the United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily of the funding departments.

The authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 28 August 2007 ; accepted 25 April 2008.