Translating Research Findings for the Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) System

BACKGROUND:  The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) has conducted several climate change studies which showed that extreme weather increased the risk of various health outcomes and were able to identify sub-population groups that are vulnerable to extreme weather events. Although this information can be accessed from publications in peer-reviewed journals, the public is often unaware of scientific journals or how to retrieve and interpret the findings. The main objectives of this project were to: 1) demonstrate how research findings can be translated for the public; 2) describe how key messages from findings are chosen for display; 3) select appropriate methods to display information; and 4) address issues of interpretability. METHODS: Results from six recent NYSDOH publications on climate change and health were selected for posting on the NYS Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) public portal which is a central location for environmental health information that receives high volumes of web traffic. Study findings included: i) positive associations between extreme summer temperatures or indicators and outcomes like respiratory outcomes, acute renal failure, certain birth defects and mortality; ii) climate change in NYS evidenced by warmer and wetter weather in the past 60 years; and iii) a projected increase in NYS respiratory admissions resulting from extreme heat. RESULTS: The six climate change studies were briefly summarized with significant findings appropriately displayed in maps, tables and charts. Major focus of translating research for public health action include: 1) determining key findings and criteria for relevance; 2) determining vulnerable sub-groups in the study population; 3) describing the potential of findings with regards to policy making and meaningful interventions; and 4) choosing geographic scale as well as the appropriate method to present findings (maps versus charts etc.). Obstacles of scientific terminology interpretability and development of messaging for the public were also addressed. Our collaborations with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and US Environmental Protection Agency for this project will further facilitate release of information to the public. CONCLUSIONS:  Translating findings from epidemiology studies for EPHT portal can be challenging but is essential to enable public understanding of these results. Displaying findings from our studies allows the public to make important decisions about their health and possibly change their vulnerability to climate change. This also provides an opportunity to collaborate with state and national governmental organizations to further disseminate important findings to policy makers and health officials.