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Handbook of Epidemiology pp 1413–1445Cite as

Geographical Epidemiology

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Abstract

Although, at first sight, geographical epidemiology may appear to differ substantially from other areas of epidemiology, it has many features in common. In particular, a major objective of epidemiology – to infer etiological relationships from observed associations – applies also in geographical studies. The distinctive characteristic is of course that geographical location is an important explanatory variable, either because it reflects an environmentally determined element of risk or because people with similar risk attributes live together, so that risk varies from place to place. The two-dimensional nature of geographical location means that the standard statistical techniques for handling sets of essentially univariate variables need to be augmented by more sophisticated methods.

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Authors and Affiliations

    Authors
    1. John F. Bithell
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    Editors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Epidemiological Methods and Etiologic Research, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS, Bremen, Germany

      Wolfgang Ahrens

    2. Department of Biometry and Data Management, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS, Bremen, Germany

      Iris Pigeot

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    © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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    Bithell, J.F. (2014). Geographical Epidemiology. In: Ahrens, W., Pigeot, I. (eds) Handbook of Epidemiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09834-0_22

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09834-0_22

    • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

    • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-09833-3

    • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-09834-0

    • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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