EDITORIAL

¹ WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn Office, Germany
² Health Effects Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
³ St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr M Krzyzanowski, WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn Office, Goerrestrasse 15, 53113 Bonn, Germany;
mkr@ecehbonn.euro.who.int

Accepted 9 April 2002

Keywords: environmental monitoring; epidemiology; guidelines

Over the past decade epidemiological studies in Europe and worldwide have measured increases in mortality and morbidity associated with air pollution.^1,2 As evidence of health effects of air pollution has accumulated, European governments, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and other groups have begun to use data from these studies to inform environmental policies through, for example, quantitative estimates of impact of air pollution on public health.^3–6 Health impact assessment involves extrapolation of exposure-health associations measured in epidemiological studies to a target population characterised by a certain observed or predicted exposure pattern.⁷ The analysis must address important methodological issues relevant to both its design and conduct. Clarity in defining these issues is a prerequisite for proper interpretation of the results in the policy arena. Nevertheless, the results are often prone to misinterpretation, even when the assessment is done carefully, and its multiple uncertainties are carefully presented and explained to decision . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us

Digg

Reddit

Technorati

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Schram-Bijkerk, D, van Kempen, E, Knol, A B, Kruize, H, Staatsen, B, van Kamp, I (2009). Quantitative health impact assessment of transport policies: two simulations related to speed limit reduction and traffic re-allocation in the Netherlands. Occup. Environ. Med. 66: 691-698 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Medina, S, Plasencia, A, Ballester, F, Mucke, H G, Schwartz, J (2004). Apheis: public health impact of PM10 in 19 European cities. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 58: 831-836 [Abstract] [Full Text]