Environmental Public Health Indicators:
A guide for monitoring the occurrence of
environmentally-related exposures and diseases
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
In Collaboration with:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
US Environmental Protection Agency
National Association of County and City Health Officials
Public Health Foundation
1. CLASSIFY THE LINK between the proposed indicator and the public
health issue. Preference should be given to direct measures.
2. DETERMINE THE PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT of using the proposed
indicator.
3. EVALUATE THE FEASIBILITY of using the proposed indicator category.
4. ASSESS THE ABILITY to incorporate the proposed indicator into public
health interventions and environmental regulations.
5. CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA for determining priority:
❍ Scientific basis
❍ Public health importance
❍ Public concern
❍ Feasibility
❍ Public health capacity (resource needs)
❍ Degree to which exposure can be avoided
For more information contact:
2872 Woodcock Boulevard
Atlanta, Georgia 30341-4015
Telephone:
770-458-3811
Facsimile
770-458-8516
Web site:
http://www.cste.org
COUNCIL OF STATE
AND TERRITORIAL
EPIDEMIOLOGISTS
5-Point Approach for Selecting an
Environmental Public Health Indicator
✆
Environmental Public Health Indicators Can Be Used For:
1. Surveillance of health status or trends in order to:
❍ Prevent and/or detect existing or new, known or suspected
adverse public health events associated with environmental
exposures
❍ Provide efficient and consistent reporting mechanism(s)
2. Program and policy development, planning, and evaluation by:
❍ Tracking program goals and objectives
❍ Supporting existing programs
❍ Guiding research initiatives
❍ Developing new program initiatives
3. Build core environmental public health capacity with other agencies
Application of Indicators . . .
The Pew Environmental Health Commission has proposed a nation-
wide tracking network to monitor the occur