GIS for epidemiological studies

In the year 2001 Italian National Research Council (CNR) performed "Ospedaletto project" with the aim to assess the environmental and people health status in south-east area of Pisa (Tuscany, Italy), near a waste incinerator. An epidemiological survey was performed, asking a general sample of people (1408 subjects) for respiratory symptoms and diseases. We classified the subjects on the basis of the houses distance from the waste incinerator, but the health status resulted not certainly linked with the past activity of incinerator; so the subjects were classified again with the aim to analyse a possible joint between their health conditions and traffic pollution. We obtained a new classification of the subjects on the basis of the houses distance from the streets. Buffers of 100 metres from the secondary roads and 75 and 150 metres from the main roads were considered. The statistical analyses suggest significant relations between living near main roads and the increase of respiratory diseases.