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. 2018 Dec 18:6:82-91.
doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2018.12.007. eCollection 2019.

LIFE Med Hiss: An innovative cohort design for public health

Martina Gandini  1   2 , Cecilia Scarinzi  2 , Stefano Bande  3 , Giovanna Berti  2 , Luisella Ciancarella  4 , Giuseppe Costa  2   5 , Moreno Demaria  2 , Stefania Ghigo  3 , Chiara Marinacci  6 , Antonio Piersanti  4 , Gabriella Sebastiani  7 , Ennio Cadum  2
Affiliations

LIFE Med Hiss: An innovative cohort design for public health

Martina Gandini et al. MethodsX. .

Abstract

The aim of MED HISS methodology was to test the effectiveness of a low-cost approach to study long-term effects of air pollution, applicable in all European countries. This approach is potentially exportable to other environmental issues where a cohort representative of the country population is needed. The cohort is derived from the National Health Interview Survey, compulsory in European countries, which has information on individual lifestyle factors. In Life Med Hiss approach, subjects recruited have been linked at individual level with health data and have been then followed-up for mortality and hospital admissions outcomes. Exposure values of air pollution (PM2.5 and NO2) have been assigned using national dispersion models, enhanced by the information derived from monitoring station with data fusion techniques, and then upscaled at municipality level (highest level of detail achievable for the Italian Survey). Results for mortality have been used to test the effectiveness of this methodology and are encouraging if compared with European ones. The advantages of this technique are summarized below: •It uses a cohort already available and compulsory in European countries•It uses air quality modelling data, available for most of the countries•It permits to implement versatile environmental surveillance systems.

Keywords: Air pollution; Epidemiological surveillance; Exposure assessment; Long term studies; National Health Interview Surveys.

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Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of sampled subjects for each municipality.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Graphical representation of the cohort together with the follow-up.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Example of one year exposure assessment – PM2.5 year 2005.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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