John Snow's legacy: epidemiology without borders

Fine, P.; Victora, C.G.; Rothman, K.J.; Moore, P.S.; Chang, Y.; Curtis, V.; Heymann, D.L.; Slutkin, G.; May, R.M.; Patel, V.; Roberts, I.; Wortley, R.; Torgerson, C.; Deaton, A.

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(13)60771-0

John Snow's legacy: epidemiology without borders

Fine, P.; Victora, C.G.; Rothman, K.J.; Moore, P.S.; Chang, Y.; Curtis, V.; Heymann, D.L.; Slutkin, G.; May, R.M.; Patel, V.; Roberts, I.; Wortley, R.; Torgerson, C.; Deaton, A.

Authors

P. Fine

C.G. Victora

K.J. Rothman

P.S. Moore

Y. Chang

V. Curtis

D.L. Heymann

G. Slutkin

R.M. May

V. Patel

I. Roberts

R. Wortley

Carole Torgerson carole.torgerson@durham.ac.uk
Honorary Professor

A. Deaton

Abstract

This Review provides abstracts from a meeting held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, on April 11–12, 2013, to celebrate the legacy of John Snow. They describe conventional and unconventional applications of epidemiological methods to problems ranging from diarrhoeal disease, mental health, cancer, and accident care, to education, poverty, financial networks, crime, and violence. Common themes appear throughout, including recognition of the importance of Snow's example, the philosophical and practical implications of assessment of causality, and an emphasis on the evaluation of preventive, ameliorative, and curative interventions, in a wide variety of medical and societal examples. Almost all self-described epidemiologists nowadays work within the health arena, and this is the focus of most of the societies, journals, and courses that carry the name epidemiology. The range of applications evident in these contributions might encourage some of these institutions to consider broadening their remits. In so doing, they may contribute more directly to, and learn from, non-health-related areas that use the language and methods of epidemiology to address many important problems now facing the world.

Citation

Fine, P., Victora, C., Rothman, K., Moore, P., Chang, Y., Curtis, V., …Deaton, A. (2013). John Snow's legacy: epidemiology without borders. The Lancet, 381(9874), 1302-1311. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736%2813%2960771-0

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Apr 13, 2013
Deposit Date	Jul 10, 2013
Publicly Available Date	Apr 9, 2015
Journal	The Lancet
Print ISSN	0140-6736
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	381
Issue	9874
Pages	1302-1311
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736%2813%2960771-0
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1472626

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Copyright Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in The Lancet. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in The Lancet, 381, 9874, 13–19 April 2013, 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60771-0.