Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Spatial identification of potential health hazards: a systematic areal search approach


The authors of this study wanted to assess air pollution health hazards that lead to death, studying a specific location in Israel. The authors explained that because there are so many types of pollutants it is difficult to isolate and determine which pollutants are specifically causing harm. 

This study was trying to determine which pollutants were causing high morbidity in the area shown below. 


These images identify locations with high morbidity rates due to Lung (a,c) and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma cancers. Factors such as location in relation to roads and factories, as well as the wind and other meteorological conditions were considered.

The goal of this study was to provide a method which researchers could use to help determine the cause of high morbidity rates around the world. The formulas and methods used can be fairly easily applied to other circumstances and allow for this research to be used again in other locations. Additionally, this GIS model could be used to possibly predict causes of death and morbidity before they become serious issues.

Svechkina, Alina, Marina Zusman, Natalya Rybnikova, and Boris A. Portnov. "Spatial Identification of Potential Health Hazards: A Systematic Areal Search Approach."International Journal of Health Geographics. BioMed Central, 07 Feb. 2017. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting! From the data collected were they able to determine what pollutants caused the highest morbidity rates?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found this article interesting but i feel like i could have benefitted more details about the study. I also would like to know what they found out? I also think other factors should also be considered such as smoking possibly

    ReplyDelete