Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T00:33:09.891Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epidemiology in a changing world: implications for population-based research on mental disorders

Part of: Special Articles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2013

B. Cooper
B. Cooper*
Affiliation:
Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
*
Address for correspondence: Professor Brian Cooper, Bachstrasse 34, Heidelberg D-69121, Germany. (Email: bcooper28@aol.com)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Introduction and objectives.

Population-based research on mental disorders needs to keep pace with trends in general epidemiology. At present, this requirement is complicated by uncertainty within the parent discipline about its future development. The present study examines proposals for new directions in strategy and methods and considers their significance for psychiatric epidemiology.

Method.

Narrative review, cross-checked by search of English-language journals of epidemiology for new trends and developments reported in the years from 2000 onwards.

Results.

The proposals reviewed here are divided into three groups:

  1. 1. A new research paradigm of ‘eco-epidemiology’, which includes both individual risk factors and macro-environmental systems that mediate population levels of health and sickness.

  2. 2. Improved ‘translation’ of research findings – i.e. more rapid and effective implementation of epidemiological evidence into health policy and practice.

  3. 3. Adaptation of epidemiology to a globalised economy, with firmer regulation of funding and resources.

Conclusions.

Each of these proposals has implications for psychiatric epidemiology. Workers in this field, however, are still preoccupied by relatively specific problems of definition, measurement and classification, and so far the current debates in general epidemiology are scarcely reflected. The proposals outlined above call for:

  • • a working model of eco-epidemiology as it relates to psychiatric disorders;

  • • implementation strategies to encourage more active participation in epidemiological research by community health services and caregiver organisations;

  • • international collaborative projects that offer practical benefits in training and service facilities for the countries taking part.

Keywords

eco-epidemiologyglobal mental health researchpsychiatric epidemiologytranslational medicine
Type
Special Article
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , June 2014 , pp. 141 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Butler, D (2008). Translational research: crossing the valley of death. Nature 453, 840–842.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eisenberg, L (1986). Mindlessness and brainlessness in psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry 148, 497–508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henderson, AS (2011). Translational medicine: a new creed? Australia New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 45, 920–922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horton, R (2012). GBD 2010: understanding disease, injury and risk. Lancet 380, 2053–2054.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, RC (2000). Psychiatric epidemiology: selected recent advances and future directions. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78, 464–474.Google ScholarPubMed
Kessler, RC, Ustun, TB (eds) (2008). The WHO Mental Health Surveys. Global Perspectives on the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders. Cambridge University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Khoury, MJ, Gwinn, M, Ioannidis, JP (2010). The emergence of translational epidemiology: from scientific discovery to population health impact. American Journal of Epidemiology 72, 517–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koopman, JS (1996). Comment: emerging objectives and methods in epidemiology. American Journal of Public Health 86, 630–632.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loewensen, R (2004). Epidemiology in the era of globalization: skills transfer or new skills? International Journal of Epidemiology 33, 1144–1150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, RT (2011). Product-development partnerships: case studies of a new mechanism for health technology innovation. Health Research Policy and Systems 9, 33. doi:10.1186/1478-4505-9-33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
March, D, Susser, E (2006). The eco- in epidemiology. International Journal of Epidemiology 35, 1379–1383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maziak, W (2009). The triumph of the null hypothesis: epidemiology in an age of change. International Journal of Epidemiology 38, 393–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMichael, AJ (1993). Planetary Overload. Global Environmental Change and the Health of the Human Species. Cambridge University Press: New York.Google Scholar
McMichael, AJ (1994). Invited commentary – “Molecular epidemiology”: new pathway or new travelling companion? American Journal of Epidemiology 140, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McMichael, AJ (1999). Prisoners of the proximate: loosening the constraints on epidemiology in an age of change. American Journal of Epidemiology 149, 887–897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishtar, S (2004). Public-private ‘partnerships’ in health – a global call to action. Health Research Policy and Systems 2, 5. doi:10.1186/1478-4505-2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ogilvie, D, Craig, P, Griffin, S, Macintyre, S, Wareham, NJ (2009). A translational framework for public health research. BMC Public Health 9, 116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palmer, LJ (2004). The new epidemiology: putting the pieces together in complex disease aetiology. International Journal of Epidemiology 33, 925–928.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pearce, N (2007). Commentary: the rise and rise of corporate epidemiology and the narrowing of epidemiology's vision. International Journal of Epidemiology 36, 713–717.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pearce, N (2011). Epidemiology in a changing world: variation, causation and ubiquitous risk factors. International Journal of Epidemiology 40, 503–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Razzouk, D, Sharan, P, Gallo, C, Gureje, O, Lamberte, EE, de Jesus Mari, J, Mazzotti, G, Patel, V, Swartz, L, Olifson, S, Levav, I, de Francisco, A, Saxena, S, WHO-Global Forum for Health Research Mental Health Research Mapping Project Group (2010). Scarcity and inequity of mental health research resources in middle- and low-income countries: a global survey. Health Policy 94, 211–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richter, J (2004). Public-private partnerships for health: a trend with no alternatives? Development 47, 43–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, G (2001). Sick individuals and sick populations. International Journal of Epidemiology 30, 427–432.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saxena, S, Thornicroft, G, Knapp, M, Whiteford, H (2007). Resources for mental health: scarcity, inequality and inefficiency. Lancet 370, 878–889.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sharan, P, Levav, I, Olifson, S, de Francisco, A, Saxena, S (eds.) (2007). Research Capacity for Mental Health in Low- and Middle-Income Ccountries. Results of a Mapping Project. Global Forum for Health Research and WHO: Geneva.Google Scholar
Susser, M, Susser, E (1996 a). Choosing a future for epidemiology. I: Eras and paradigms. American Journal of Public Health 86, 668–673.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Susser, M, Susser, E (1996 b). Choosing a future for epidemiology. II: From black boxes to Chinese boxes and eco-epidemiology. American Journal of Public Health 86, 674–677.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taubes, G, Mann, CC (1995). Epidemiology faces its limits. Science 269, 164–169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thornicroft, G, Lempp, H, Tansella, M (2011). The place of implementation science in the translational medicine continuum. Psychological Medicine 41, 2015–2021.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woolf, SH (2008). The meaning of translational research and why it matters. Journal of American Medical Association 299, 211–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed