Physical, chemical and (non-infectious) biological factors in the general environment and in the workplace contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. Examples of such environmental and occupational risk factors include outdoor air pollution, heat waves, pesticides and allergens and (non-)infectious agents. For other stressors such as electromagnetic fields uncertainty regarding their health effects remains. Environmental and occupational epidemiology has made major contributions to the assessment of the magnitude of the health risks from various environmental and occupational stressors. The evidence from the studies performed in environmental and occupational epidemiology is relevant for decision making regarding preventive action and ultimately protects public health.
This advanced course will introduce you to the principles and important issues of environmental and occupational epidemiology.
The main methodological topics include study designs for the assessment of short-term effects (time series studies, panel studies and case crossover studies) and long-term effects of environmental and occupational exposures (ecological studies, different types of cohorts and case-control studies), spatial epidemiology, exposure assessment (using measurements and models), measurement error (types, impact and correction methods) and advanced data analyses (time series including shape of concentration response functions, case-cross-over and panel studies).
Research methods will be illustrated with examples on current and emerging topics in environmental and occupational epidemiology.
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
Besides introductions to the fundamental principles of exposure assessment and environmental epidemiology, the following main topics will be covered:
Theory will be illustrated with examples on current and emerging topics.
To successfully complete this course, you need to actively participate in the discussion forums and
complete all learning assignments, including:
The course has been designed as an advanced course. We assume that students have: