Epidemiology and health outcomes research

 

How to combine epidemiology and health outcomes research, and life course epidemiological approaches?

 

One of the current limitations of thinking and organizing health services for individuals and communities is in the way health and transitions in health are conceptualized. To provide a simple example, 

 

consider the life story of a child who is born in West Bengal in a place that is known to be a high exposure zone for arsenic in groundwater. It is known that presence of high amount of inorganic arsenic in groundwater is responsible for

a) skin pigmentation that are unsightly but also can lead to skin cancers

b) liver diseases including cancer of liver

c) cancer of urinary bladder

d) lung cancer (surprisingly in this case arsenic in drinking water is the culprit)

 

This child is born into a poor family and has low nutritional level. It's known that low or poor nutrition is a risk factor for arsenic induced skin lesions

 

 

 

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Hi Arin,

 

I was just looking through Wagn users and saw your story. Have you given any thought to how Wagn might help your work? Would you like any help weighing design options?

  --Ethan McCutchen.....Tue Mar 02 16:05:23 -0800 2010