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This is a new paperback edition of the well received text Spatial Epidemiology: methods and applications. It is an easy to read, clear and concise exploration of the field of geographical variations in disease. Especially with respect to variations in environmental exposures at the small-area scale this book gives an authoritative account of current practice and developments. The recent and rapid expansion of the field looks set to continue in line with growing public, governmental and media concern about environmental and health issues, and the scientific need to understand and explain the effects of environmental pollutants on health.Of interest to epidemiologists, public health practitioners, statisticians, geographers, environmental scientists and others concerned with understanding the geographical distribution of disease and the effects of environmental exposures on human health. It will be a valuable source for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in epidemiology, medical geography, biostatistics, environmental health and environmental science as well as a useful source of reference for health policy makers, health economists, regulators and others in the field of environmental health.Readership: Biostatisticians, epidemiologists, geographers and pollution modellers - all those interested in spatial analysis and those concerned with understanding the geographical distribution of disease and the effects of environmental exposures on health. UG and PG courses in epidemiology, medical geography, biostatistics, environmental health and environmental science as well as a useful reference source for health policy makers, health economists and others in the field of environmental health.Book ReviewEpidemiologists are primarily interested in the occurrence of disease as categorized by time, person and place. Spatial epidemiology emphasizes the latter. It is concerned both with describing and understanding variations in disease from a distinctly analytical spatial perspective and as an area of medical research it is one of growing importance. This is the first major edited book on spatial epidemiology to be published in the past decade, providing a comprehensive reference on state-of-the-art methods and applications in this rapidly expanding discipline. The contributions reflect the inter-disciplinary and international nature of the field, with practitioners from public health, epidemiology, geography, statistics and environmental sciences.The book is organized into four sections. Section One introduces the field of spatial epidemiology and provides a thorough background on the data requirements with particular emphasis upon the problems and limitations associated with health event data and small area social statistics. The section highlights recent changes in access to spatially referenced data in the UK. Section Two contains six chapters that provide an account of stateof-the-art statistical methods for spatially modelling disease. The first chapter provides an overview of statistical methods for disease mapping and its relation to cluster detection which are then expanded upon in the rest of the section. A common theme is the use of statistical techniques to model the spatial structures inherent in small area statistical data. Statistical methodologies include geostatistical modelling for smoothing and summarizing spatial data and hierarchical modelling to account for spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity. These techniques have become increasingly important over the past decade and the section describes their application in detail. Section Three concerns disease mapping and clustering and links together the traditional aspects of epidemiology (mapping disease) with the sophisticated statistical techniques described in Section Two and data issues discussed in Section One. The section is particularly strong in illustrating international spatial epidemiology research. Section Four investigates the links between environmental exposure and health. Theoretical chapters are concerned with the processes and mechanisms by which human populations are exposed to environmental contaminants and how these can be measured and monitored whilst applications include traffic pollution, water quality and climate change.Overall, the book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date review of the recent developments in spatial epidemiology. It reflects the growth in the availability of spatially referenced data, the development of spatial theory and spatial analytical methods and the increase in computing power that has enabled statistical methods, such as hierarchical modelling, to be used in practical applications. The statistical methods require a modicum of background knowledge and are not suitable for the beginner. However, for the more experienced reader the chapters provide an invaluable source of reference for practical application of spatial statistics.Although it is an edited collection, the different chapters are consistent in style and quality with each section providing a coherent theme. The chapters also benefit from cross-referencing allowing the reader to appreciate the links between the sections. The use of technical terms means that some chapters may be more accessible than others although all of the chapters are concise and well written with high quality illustrations throughout and the book benefits from the inclusion of several coloured plates, The book should be of value to anyone who is interested in the spatial variations in disease and the effects of the environment on health. It is also a useful reference for anyone who is interested in state-of-the-art statistical spatial analytical techniques such as geographers, statisticians and environmental scientists.

WA 950 Theory or methods of medical statistics --- Epidemiologic Methods --- Geography --- Cluster Analysis