ABSTRACT
Spatial epidemiology is the analysis of spatial and space-time distributions of disease data. Such analysis enables the identification of populations with high relative risks for particular diseases and may help to isolate possible causal factors for subsequent analysis by individual level study designs. Area studies may also be important in their own right in the case of certain diseases, such as respiratory, water-borne or those linked to exposure to radiation, where individual level epidemiological studies would be incapable of establishing accurate, individual exposure levels to critical risk factors. Area-based studies, particularly where similar results are found at different times and in different places may give aetiological clues.
