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Eco-epidemiology: On the Need to Measure Health Effects from Global Change

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Global Change and Human Health

Abstract

To prevent harm to human health from degrading ecosystems, epidemiologists need useful indicators that are sensitive to those shifts in health status that might parallel these declines. Traditional measures of health (e.g., life expectancy, infant mortality) are intuitively linkable to effects from environmental degradation but, in fact, they do not appear to provide early warning indications of negative ecological impacts on health. Alternative health measures, such as social well-being, may be needed for epidemiological research. New measures must combine those factors having policy relevance, including sensitive measures of well-being and of health, with models of those human behaviours that contribute to ecological declines. Exposure factors (e.g., pollution) made worse by ecosystem changes (e.g., global warming) also are relevant. In addition, epidemiologists must be able to relate health outcomes not only to the traditional base of geo-political boundaries (e.g., census tracts or countries), but more appropriately to eco-regions (e.g., climate regions). Only then could direct comparisons of effect be made between areas that have eco-region as the common base for defining both denominators and numerator events for rate calculations and comparisons. In conclusion, administrative infrastructure is needed so that meaningful eco-epidemiology can be conducted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, 13-103 Clinical Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2G3, Canada, e-mail

    Colin L. Soskolne (Professor)

  2. Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Summer Student (MD Programme), University of Alberta, Canada

    Natasha Broemling

Authors
  1. Colin L. Soskolne
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  2. Natasha Broemling
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Soskolne, C.L., Broemling, N. Eco-epidemiology: On the Need to Measure Health Effects from Global Change. Global Change & Human Health 3, 58–66 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019692414126

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