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Panel discussion review: session three — issues involved in interpretation of epidemiologic analyses — statistical modeling

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 17, pages S90–S96 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The Clean Air Act mandates that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develop National Ambient Air Quality Standards for criteria air pollutants and conduct periodic reviews of the standards based on new scientific evidence. In recent reviews, evidence from epidemiologic studies has played a key role. Epidemiologic studies often provide evidence for effects of several air pollutants. Determining whether there are independent effects of the separate pollutants is a challenge. Among the many issues confronting the interpretation of epidemiologic studies of multi-pollutant exposures and health effects are those specifically related to statistical modeling. The EPA convened a workshop on 13 and 14 December 2006 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, to discuss these and other issues; Session Three of the workshop was devoted specifically to statistical modeling. Prominent statistical modeling issues in epidemiologic studies of air pollution include (1) measurement error across the co-pollutants; (2) correlation and multi-collinearity among the co-pollutants; (3) the timing of the concentration–response function; (4) confounding; and (5) spatial analyses.

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of policies of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Environmental Assessment, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Thomas F Bateson

  2. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Massachusetts, USA

    Brent A Coull

  3. Office of Air and Radiation, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Bryan Hubbell

  4. Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo Park, New York, USA

    Kazuhiko Ito

  5. Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

    Michael Jerrett

  6. Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Thomas Lumley

  7. Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Duncan Thomas

  8. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Sverre Vedal

  9. National Center for Environmental Assessment, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Mary Ross

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  1. Thomas F Bateson
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Correspondence to Thomas F Bateson.

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Bateson, T., Coull, B., Hubbell, B. et al. Panel discussion review: session three — issues involved in interpretation of epidemiologic analyses — statistical modeling. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 17 (Suppl 2), S90–S96 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500631

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