Issues to Consider Before Initiating a Project in Medical Geography

摘要

This article is directed toward health professionals who have a limited background in epidemiology and geography but are interested in medical geography. Although geospatial analysis and the availability of geographic information systems is a growing field, there is little literature available regarding medical geography. Medical geography is a field that incorporates geographical and epidemiological concepts in order to investigate relationships between health and location (1). This article will be an introduction to the fundamental issues, including errors and biases, often encountered in geography and epidemiology, which inherently occur in medical geography. All issues should be considered prior to initiating a project in medical geography.