Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2012 May;120(5):632-6. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1104031. Epub 2012 Feb 22.
The Arabian Gulf nations are undergoing rapid economic development, leading to major shifts in both the traditional lifestyle and the environment. Although the pace of change is brisk, there is a dearth of environmental health research in this region.
We describe challenges and successes of conducting an environmental epidemiologic study in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Gulf nation in the Middle East, with an inter-disciplinary team that includes in-country academic and government collaborators as well as U.S. academic collaborators.
We present several issues, including study and data collection design, exposure assessment, scheduling and time coordination, quality assurance and quality control, and institutional review board protocols. These topics are considered in a cultural context. Benefits of this research included building linkages among multinational, interdisciplinary team members, generating data for local environmental decision making, and developing local epidemiologic research capacity. The Middle Eastern culture of hospitality greatly benefited the project team.
Cultural differences impact multiple aspects of epidemiologic research and should be respectfully addressed. Conducting international population-based environmental research poses many challenges; these challenges can be met successfully with careful planning, cultural knowledge, and flexibility. Lessons learned are applicable to interdisciplinary research all over the world. The research conducted will benefit the environmental and public health agencies of the UAE and provide the nation's leadership with country-specific environmental health data that can be used to protect the public's health in a rapidly changing environment.
阿拉伯海湾国家正在经历快速的经济发展，导致传统生活方式和环境发生重大转变。尽管变化的步伐很快，但该地区缺乏环境健康研究。
我们描述了在阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）进行环境流行病学研究的挑战和成功经验，这是一个位于中东的海湾国家，一个由国内学术和政府合作者以及美国学术合作者组成的跨学科团队参与其中。
我们提出了几个问题，包括研究和数据收集设计、暴露评估、时间表和时间协调、质量保证和质量控制以及机构审查委员会协议。这些主题是在文化背景下考虑的。这项研究的好处包括在跨国、跨学科团队成员之间建立联系，为当地环境决策提供数据，并发展当地的流行病学研究能力。中东好客的文化极大地造福了项目团队。
文化差异影响流行病学研究的多个方面，应该得到尊重。进行国际人群为基础的环境研究带来了许多挑战；通过仔细的规划、文化知识和灵活性，可以成功地应对这些挑战。所吸取的经验教训适用于世界各地的跨学科研究。所进行的研究将使阿联酋的环境和公共卫生机构受益，并为该国领导层提供特定于国家的环境健康数据，可用于在快速变化的环境中保护公众健康。
