Spatial Epidemiology

Spatial epidemiology (or geographical epidemiology) is a subdiscipline of epidemiology and part of the subdiscipline of health geography. Epidemiology is concerned with the study of population health and disease. Spatial epidemiology focuses specifically on the spatial components of this to understand and explain why health and disease vary by place. Classic examples of its use would be modeling levels of leukemia close to a radioactive point source or, historically, the mapping of cholera deaths. Definitions of approaches to spatial epidemiology vary, but usually include disease mapping, geographical correlation studies (also termed ecological studies), risk assessment in relation to a point or line source, and cluster detection and disease clustering