Environmental Epidemiology
Environmental epidemiology is the branch of epidemiology concerned with discovery of the environmental exposures that contribute to or protect against injuries, illnesses, developmental conditions, disabilities, and deaths; and identification of public health and health care actions to avoid, prepare for, and effectively manage the risks associated with harmful exposures. Environmental epidemiology studies external factors that affect the incidence, prevalence, and geographic range of health conditions. These factors may be naturally occurring or may be introduced into environments where people live, work, and play. Environmental exposures are involuntary and thus generally exclude occupational exposures and voluntary exposures such as active smoking, medications, and diet. Environmental exposures can be broadly categorized into those that are proximate (e.g. directly leading to a health condition), including chemicals, physical agents, and microbiological pathogens, and those that are more distal, such as social conditions, climate change, and other broad scale environmental changes. Proximate exposures occur through air, food, water, and dermal contact. Distal exposures cause adverse health conditions directly by altering proximate exposures, and indirectly through changes in ecosystems and other support systems for human health.
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