Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters
The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) region is prone to disasters, including recurrent oil spills, hurricanes, floods, industrial accidents, harmful algal blooms, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. The GoM and other regions of the U.S. lack sufficient baseline health information to identify, attribute, mitigate...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpubh.2020.578463/full |
| _version_ | 1818238182531006464 |
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| author | Paul Sandifer Landon Knapp Maureen Lichtveld Ruth Manley David Abramson Rex Caffey David Cochran Tracy Collier Kristie Ebi Lawrence Engel John Farrington Melissa Finucane Christine Hale David Halpern Emily Harville Leslie Hart Yulin Hswen Yulin Hswen Barbara Kirkpatrick Bruce McEwen Glenn Morris Raymond Orbach Lawrence Palinkas Melissa Partyka Dwayne Porter Aric A. Prather Teresa Rowles Geoffrey Scott Teresa Seeman Helena Solo-Gabriele Erik Svendsen Terry Tincher Juli Trtanj Ann Hayward Walker Rachel Yehuda Fuyuen Yip David Yoskowitz Burton Singer |
| author_facet | Paul Sandifer Landon Knapp Maureen Lichtveld Ruth Manley David Abramson Rex Caffey David Cochran Tracy Collier Kristie Ebi Lawrence Engel John Farrington Melissa Finucane Christine Hale David Halpern Emily Harville Leslie Hart Yulin Hswen Yulin Hswen Barbara Kirkpatrick Bruce McEwen Glenn Morris Raymond Orbach Lawrence Palinkas Melissa Partyka Dwayne Porter Aric A. Prather Teresa Rowles Geoffrey Scott Teresa Seeman Helena Solo-Gabriele Erik Svendsen Terry Tincher Juli Trtanj Ann Hayward Walker Rachel Yehuda Fuyuen Yip David Yoskowitz Burton Singer |
| author_sort | Paul Sandifer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) region is prone to disasters, including recurrent oil spills, hurricanes, floods, industrial accidents, harmful algal blooms, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. The GoM and other regions of the U.S. lack sufficient baseline health information to identify, attribute, mitigate, and facilitate prevention of major health effects of disasters. Developing capacity to assess adverse human health consequences of future disasters requires establishment of a comprehensive, sustained community health observing system, similar to the extensive and well-established environmental observing systems. We propose a system that combines six levels of health data domains, beginning with three existing, national surveys and studies plus three new nested, longitudinal cohort studies. The latter are the unique and most important parts of the system and are focused on the coastal regions of the five GoM States. A statistically representative sample of participants is proposed for the new cohort studies, stratified to ensure proportional inclusion of urban and rural populations and with additional recruitment as necessary to enroll participants from particularly vulnerable or under-represented groups. Secondary data sources such as syndromic surveillance systems, electronic health records, national community surveys, environmental exposure databases, social media, and remote sensing will inform and augment the collection of primary data. Primary data sources will include participant-provided information via questionnaires, clinical measures of mental and physical health, acquisition of biological specimens, and wearable health monitoring devices. A suite of biomarkers may be derived from biological specimens for use in health assessments, including calculation of allostatic load, a measure of cumulative stress. The framework also addresses data management and sharing, participant retention, and system governance. The observing system is designed to continue indefinitely to ensure that essential pre-, during-, and post-disaster health data are collected and maintained. It could also provide a model/vehicle for effective health observation related to infectious disease pandemics such as COVID-19. To our knowledge, there is no comprehensive, disaster-focused health observing system such as the one proposed here currently in existence or planned elsewhere. Significant strengths of the GoM Community Health Observing System (CHOS) are its longitudinal cohorts and ability to adapt rapidly as needs arise and new technologies develop. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:37:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-70c8e2b6a66b4b92bd772b71893d296a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:37:35Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-70c8e2b6a66b4b92bd772b71893d296a2022-12-22T00:24:18ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652020-10-01810.3389/fpubh.2020.578463578463Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future DisastersPaul Sandifer0Landon Knapp1Maureen Lichtveld2Ruth Manley3David Abramson4Rex Caffey5David Cochran6Tracy Collier7Kristie Ebi8Lawrence Engel9John Farrington10Melissa Finucane11Christine Hale12David Halpern13Emily Harville14Leslie Hart15Yulin Hswen16Yulin Hswen17Barbara Kirkpatrick18Bruce McEwen19Glenn Morris20Raymond Orbach21Lawrence Palinkas22Melissa Partyka23Dwayne Porter24Aric A. Prather25Teresa Rowles26Geoffrey Scott27Teresa Seeman28Helena Solo-Gabriele29Erik Svendsen30Terry Tincher31Juli Trtanj32Ann Hayward Walker33Rachel Yehuda34Fuyuen Yip35David Yoskowitz36Burton Singer37Center for Coastal Environmental and Human Health, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, United StatesCenter for Coastal Environmental and Human Health, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, United StatesSchool of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United StatesMaster's Program in Environmental and Sustainability Studies, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, United StatesSchool of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, United StatesDepartment of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United StatesSchool of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, United StatesHuxley College of the Environment, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, United StatesDepartment of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United StatesGillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States0Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States1Rand Corporation, Pittsburg, PA, United States2Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, United States3Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, United StatesSchool of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States4Department of Health and Human Performance, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, United States5Computational Epidemiology Lab, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States6Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States7Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System, Texas A&M University, College Station TX, United States8Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, Rockefeller University, New York, NY, United States9Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States0Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX, United States1Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States2Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Mobile, AL, United States3Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States4Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States5National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MD, United States3Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States6David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States7Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States8Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States8Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States9Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MD, United States0SEA Consulting Group, Cape Charles, VA, United States1Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Bronx, NY, United States8Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States2Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, United States9Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United StatesThe Gulf of Mexico (GoM) region is prone to disasters, including recurrent oil spills, hurricanes, floods, industrial accidents, harmful algal blooms, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. The GoM and other regions of the U.S. lack sufficient baseline health information to identify, attribute, mitigate, and facilitate prevention of major health effects of disasters. Developing capacity to assess adverse human health consequences of future disasters requires establishment of a comprehensive, sustained community health observing system, similar to the extensive and well-established environmental observing systems. We propose a system that combines six levels of health data domains, beginning with three existing, national surveys and studies plus three new nested, longitudinal cohort studies. The latter are the unique and most important parts of the system and are focused on the coastal regions of the five GoM States. A statistically representative sample of participants is proposed for the new cohort studies, stratified to ensure proportional inclusion of urban and rural populations and with additional recruitment as necessary to enroll participants from particularly vulnerable or under-represented groups. Secondary data sources such as syndromic surveillance systems, electronic health records, national community surveys, environmental exposure databases, social media, and remote sensing will inform and augment the collection of primary data. Primary data sources will include participant-provided information via questionnaires, clinical measures of mental and physical health, acquisition of biological specimens, and wearable health monitoring devices. A suite of biomarkers may be derived from biological specimens for use in health assessments, including calculation of allostatic load, a measure of cumulative stress. The framework also addresses data management and sharing, participant retention, and system governance. The observing system is designed to continue indefinitely to ensure that essential pre-, during-, and post-disaster health data are collected and maintained. It could also provide a model/vehicle for effective health observation related to infectious disease pandemics such as COVID-19. To our knowledge, there is no comprehensive, disaster-focused health observing system such as the one proposed here currently in existence or planned elsewhere. Significant strengths of the GoM Community Health Observing System (CHOS) are its longitudinal cohorts and ability to adapt rapidly as needs arise and new technologies develop.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpubh.2020.578463/fullhealth observing systemdisastersGulf of Mexicocohort studiesstressCOVID-19 |
| spellingShingle | Paul Sandifer Landon Knapp Maureen Lichtveld Ruth Manley David Abramson Rex Caffey David Cochran Tracy Collier Kristie Ebi Lawrence Engel John Farrington Melissa Finucane Christine Hale David Halpern Emily Harville Leslie Hart Yulin Hswen Yulin Hswen Barbara Kirkpatrick Bruce McEwen Glenn Morris Raymond Orbach Lawrence Palinkas Melissa Partyka Dwayne Porter Aric A. Prather Teresa Rowles Geoffrey Scott Teresa Seeman Helena Solo-Gabriele Erik Svendsen Terry Tincher Juli Trtanj Ann Hayward Walker Rachel Yehuda Fuyuen Yip David Yoskowitz Burton Singer Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters Frontiers in Public Health health observing system disasters Gulf of Mexico cohort studies stress COVID-19 |
| title | Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters |
| title_full | Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters |
| title_fullStr | Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters |
| title_short | Framework for a Community Health Observing System for the Gulf of Mexico Region: Preparing for Future Disasters |
| title_sort | framework for a community health observing system for the gulf of mexico region preparing for future disasters |
| topic | health observing system disasters Gulf of Mexico cohort studies stress COVID-19 |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpubh.2020.578463/full |
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