SPECIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY: Explanatory Notes for Public Health Experts

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution of health problems and their determinants in human populations, with the aim of preventing health problems. Its essential role is to improve the health of populations. Epidemiology contributes to environmental health monitoring in a number of ways:¿ Epidemiological investigation enables direct exploration of the relationship between the environment and health, in the most favourable cases right through to the final stage of health impact assessment;¿ A coherent corpus of epidemiological research, carried out on a given question, can provide dose-response relationships that feed into predictive approaches to health risk assessment; ¿ Finally, epidemiology plays an important role in the long-term monitoring of environmental risks.