28.-31.7.1998, Vienna, European Forum on Transport, Environment and Health

• Venue: Hofburg, Großer Redoutensaal, Josefsplatz, 1010 Wien
• Organized by: The World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (WHO/EURO) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family Affairs
• Held under the auspices of the Austrian Presidency of the EU and as part of the preparation for the WHO 3rd Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health and its Transport, Environment and Health session, for which Austria has volunteered as a Lead Country
• Part 1: International Conference on the Environment Related Health Impacts of Transport – „The conference will bring together eminent international authorities on the environment related health impact of transport: scientists and doctors, policy makers and other stake-holders on transport environment and health, as well as delegations from WHO/EURO Member States, intergovernmental organizations and international agencies, NGOs, industry and others. Recent scientific evidence and their policy implications will be presented …“
• Part 2: Preparatory Meeting for the “Transport, Environment and Health” Session at the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health to be held in London in June 1999. „This is the first preparatory meeting of Member States from the WHO European Region for the special session on transport-related issues, strategies and actions that will be debated at the Conference. In particular a “Charter on Transport, Environment and Health” is being proposed for adoption at that Conference.“

Own contribution: Integrated Environmental Health Impact Assessment [98-17]:

• Presentation text and transparencies
• Background paper; key conlusions

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My summary report

15.-17.9.1997, Φ 42. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (GMDS) in Ulm, inkl. Beiträge zu probabilistischer Risikoabschätzung und zu „Surveillance approaches for Agenda 21“

Tagungsband:

Muche R, Büchele G. Harder D, Gaus W (Hrsg.): Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie – GMDS ‘97. Reihe Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie Nr. 82, MMV Medizin Verlag, München.

Own contributions / Eigene Beiträge:

• Probabilistische Verfahren in quantitativer Risikoabschätzung (QRA) (Mekel OCL, Nolte E, Fehr R); im Tagungband: Seiten 477-481 [97-10]
• Surveillance approaches for Agenda 21: Geographic and socio-economic predictors of reginal mortality in Germany (Fehr R); im Tagungsband: Seiten 536-540 [96-47].

3.-6.9.1997, Münster, International Epidemiological Association (IEA) – European Regional Meeting: The health of populations in a changing Europe

International Epidemiological Association (IEA) – European Regional Meeting; organized by Institute für Epidemiologie und Sozialmedizin, U Münster; Akademie für öffentliche Gesundheit; in cooperation with IEA European Epidemiological Group and Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Epidemiologie

• Venue: University of Münster, Zentralklinikum, Lehrgebäude of the Medical School
• Scientific Secretariat: U. Keil, H.-W. Hense
• Satellite Symposium (3.9.1997): Cancer Registration in Europe (U. Keil, E. Grundmann)

Flyer

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Own contribution: R. Fehr, Surveillance approaches for “Agenda 21”: Regional mortality predictors in Germany. Beitrag 199, Oral presentation, Session “Surveillance and Monitoring I” [96-40].

Abstract (Program book, p.63):

• Purpose: To improve the basis for Environmental Health policy-making and for establishing a regional or local “Agenda 21“, as demanded by international agreement at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.
• Methods: All-cause mortality is taken as a useful, complex indica­tor of overall population health. Age-standardized mortality rates were computed for 416 cities and counties in Germany, 1994. After appropriate transformations, the association of geographic location and population density with all-cause mortality was ex­amined by multiple regression. Outlier analysis (1^st and higher de­grees) was used to characterize individual regions.
• Results: Regional mortality was found to be associated signifi­cantly with geographic latitude (positive, p<.0001), population density (negative, p<.0001), and location in former East vs. West Germany (higher in the East, p<.0001). The model predicted 65% of the mortality variance. The negative relationship between po­pulation density and mortality was confirmed in all federal states of Germany except for one. – Accounting for basic regional cha­racteristics, the model provides “expected” mortality rates that can be compared to current rates, and used for rating purposes in the process of regional policy-making for “Agenda 21″. For re­gions with higher-than-expected mortality rates, the expected rates can serve as “target lines”. “Outlier” regions may warrant special investigations into causative or protective factors, respec­tively.
• Conclusions: Surveillance based on readily available data can be useful for regions striving to establish “baselines” and “targets” and to define regional characteristics. – Next steps refer to the inclusion of additional environmental and socio-economic data and to the examination of temporal trends.

9.-11.6.1997, HH, UBA-Workshop „Gesundheitsbezogene Umweltstandards: Stand und Perspektiven“

• Veranstalter: Umweltbundesamt (UBA) Berlin
• Tagungsleitung: Fischer (UBA-WaBoLu), Kappos (BAGS Hamburg)
• Tagungsort: Haus Rissen, Hamburg
• Organisation: Behörde für Arbeit, Gesundheit und Soziales (BAGS) Hamburg im Auftrag des UBA-WaBoLu.

Eigener Beitrag – Mekel O, Nolte E, Fehr R: Probabilistische Expositionsabschätzung im Rahmen der Standardsetzung:

• 1 Kontext
• 2 Variabilität und Ungewissheit bei Exposiitonsabschätzung
• 3 Punktschätzung für Expositionen
• 4 Probabilistische Schätzung für Expositionen
• 5 Exemplarische Anwendung
• 6 Entwicklungsstand
• 7 Empfehlungen
• Ergänzungen: 1 Sensitivitätsanalyse; 2 Software für probabilistische Analysen; 3 Exemplarische Anwendungen.

Ein Ergebnis des Workshops war die Bildung einer informellen Arbeitsgruppe zum Themenkomplex „probabilistische Expositionsabschätzung“ und „Quotierung“, die für den 24.7.97 ein erstes Arbeitstreffen in Bielefeld vereinbarte.

Kurzbericht: