Mapping public health risks from epidemiological data

talian National Council of Research (CNR) uses GIS technology for the management of epidemiological and environmental data. This work deals with data from epidemiological survey based on a standardized intervieweradministered questionnaire referring to respiratory symptoms and diseases. Through geostatistical methods a respiratory health risk map was obtained. For this purpose a new continuous variable representing population respiratory health status was created. Inverse Distance Weighted interpolation technique was used to fit a continuous surface across sample points. Then the study area was classified to get homogeneous zones by respiratory risk. To assess the classification, tests of statistical significance were applied to population living in such areas. Results indicated that the interpolated map is a good representation of the distribution of respiratory symptoms/diseases over land.