Step 1. Identifying and Obtaining Existing Health Data

Another Potential Data Source: Epidemiologic Studies

Sometimes an epidemiologic study has previously been done for a community where a site is under investigation. Epidemiologic studies evaluate the occurrence of illness in a population and any factors, such as lifestyle and chemical exposure, that might be associated with the occurrence of the illnesses. Click on the term below to see the type of epidemiologic study that is most helpful to the health assessor evaluating conditions at a site.

	How does a health assessor decide whether an available epidemiologic study should be included in the health outcome data evaluation?
	What does ATSDR do to ensure the quality of a health study?