EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES IN SMALL AREAS: TOOLS FOR ANALYZING ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND ITS HEALTH EFFECTS ON LOCAL SCALE

摘要

The increasing anthropogenic pollution has generated worldwide concern about potential adverse effects on human health. Given this need for research, spatial epidemiological studies in small areas are presented as a simple and efficient approach, using routinely collected data to be analyzed using sophisticated statistical techniques, providing tools to study locally epidemiological associations. A review of generalities and methodological and statistical elements of these studies is presented in this article with some examples of studies published in the last two decades, and a brief discussion about some relevant issues.