A concepção de espaço nai nvestigação epidemiológica

ARTIGO A RT I C L E 271

A concepção de “espaço” na investigação epidemiológica
The concept of space in epidemiological re s e a rc h

Maria da Conceição Nascimento Costa
Maria da Glória Lima Cruz Te i xe i ra 1

1 Instituto de Saúde
C o l e t i va , Un i ve r s i d a d e
Fe d e ral da Ba h i a .
Rua Pa d re Feijó 29, 4o a n d a r,
Ca n e l a ,S a l va d o r, BA
4 0 1 1 0 - 1 7 0 , Bra s i l .

1

Abstract Epidemiology’s conceptual and methodological shortcomings have placed constraints on the study of health phenomena related to human communities, thus posing a challenge to the field. This paper presents some basic principles resulting from the observation of the field of geography in defining its object – space – and the application of this object to medicine and epid e m i o l o gy. Such principles state the pertinence of a conceptual and methodological stra t e gy focusing on an approach to geographic space as ex p ressing the population’s living conditions. Application of this concept to epidemiological studies is still limited, although such proposals have already been developed in other areas of knowledge. Ecological studies, whose unit of analysis is the gro u p, and the ecological model, based on the idea of an inter- relationship of factors, if imp rove d , could become a promising alternative in this dire c t i o n . The authors emphasize that researchers should have wholeness as their scientific reference in order to guarantee the non-separation of the complex interactive processes determining health phenomena in the population.
Key words Medical Geography; Geographical Space; Spatial Analysis; Epidemiology
Resumo A s atuais fragilidades conceituais e metodológicas da epidemiologia são fatores que têm restringido o estudo dos fenômenos de saúde das coletividades humanas. Neste artigo alguns princípios básicos são apresentados como resultado da observação do percurso da geografia na definição do seu objeto – o espaço – e da sua