CHAPTER THREE:
CONDUCTING HEALTH STUDIES
EVALUATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
EXPOSURE AND ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS
T
he Division of Health Studies has conducted and supported health
studies to evaluate the relationship between exposure to hazardous
substances and adverse health effects. This relationship can be described as a
sequence of events leading from contamination in the environment to the
possible presence of illness in people who have been exposed.
Since 1990 ATSDR has evaluated seven priority health conditions to assess
the association between adverse health outcomes and exposures to hazardous
substances and to determine agency strategies to address them.1 These health
conditions are as follows:
Birth defects and reproductive disorders,
Cancer (selected anatomic sites),
Immune function disorders,
Kidney dysfunction,
Liver dysfunction,
Lung and respiratory diseases, and
Neurotoxic disorders.
This paradigm allows ATSDR to concentrate its activities on those adverse
health effects considered to be most sensitive to exposures to hazardous
substances and to systematically contribute to the knowledge base about the
adverse health effects. ATSDR also conducts studies to evaluate biological dose
estimates of hazardous substances.
The following are descriptions of findings from studies completed in FY
1999.
1
ATSDR. Priority health conditions: an integrated strategy to evaluate the relationship between illness and
exposure to hazardous substances. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health
Service, July 1993.
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