Pathology and public health: opportunities for progress

Patología y salud pública: Oportunidades para el avance

Pathology and public health are disciplines that complement each other in many ways, from the information they provide to each other at the individual and population levels, to the development of public health policies and the management of information in biobanks, as well as articulation in responding to emergencies and outbreaks. Our non-systematic review highlights that the two most relevant fields which collaborate with public health are forensic pathology (including violent and non-violent deaths) and molecular pathology, making significant contributions to health care planning, the quality of epidemiological information, evidence-based public health that enables better decision-making, and community and population health management. This review identified the use of information systems, the need for a more tangible interdisciplinary approach, and the urgent educational transformation that underlies this collaboration, as areas for improvement.

1. Higginson J. The Role of the Pathologist in Environmental Medicine and Public Health. Am J Pathol.1977;86(29):459-484.
2. Sanfilippo F. Health Services Research: Opportunities for Pathology. Am J Pathol. 2014;184(9):2366-2368. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2014.06.007
3. Onyiaroah IV. Role of Forensic Pathology in Clinical Practice and Public Health: Need for a Re-birth. AFRIMEDIC Journal. 2013;4(1):1-4.
4. Lathrop SL. Forensic Pathology and Epidemiology, Public Health and Population-Based Research. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2011;1(3):282-287. doi: https://doi.org/10.23907/2011.039
5. Mendoza O, Bonilla JC, Moreno L, Piedrahita C, Mosquera A, Parra-Medina R. Review of clinical non-medico-legal autopsy: a descriptive study in 747 patients. Egypt J Forensic Sci. 2018;8:66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41935-018-0093-3
6. Bonilla JC, Parra-Medina R, Chaves JJ, Campuzano O, Sarquella-Brugada G, Brugada R, et al. La autopsia molecular en la muerte súbita cardíaca. Ach Cardiol Mex. 2018;88(4): 306-312. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acmx.2018.06.001
7. Xifró-Collsamata A, Suelves-Joanxich JM. Salud pública y patología forense. Rev Esp Salud Pública. 2011;85(4):419-420.
8. Schwartz DA, Herman CJ. Editorial Response: The Importance of the Autopsy in Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 1996;23(2):248-54. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/clinids/23.2.248
9. Mackenzie JS, Drury P, Arthur RR, Ryan MJ, Grein T, Slattery R, et al. The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. Glob Public Health. 2014;9(9):1023-39. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2014.951870
10. Hamada T, Keum N, Nishihara R, Ogino S. Molecular pathological epidemiology: new developing frontiers of big data science to study etiologies and pathogenesis. J Gastroenterol, 2017;52(3): 265-275. doi: 10.1007/s00535-016-1272-3.
11. Parra-Medina R, Mayayo E. ¿Hacia dónde vamos con la patología moderna? La patología personalizada. Rev Española de Patología. 2016;49(4):205-207. doi: 10.1016/j.patol.2016.07.001
12. Erichsen R, Lash TL, Hamilton-Dutoit SJ, Bjerregard B, Vyberg M, Pedersen L. Existing data sources for clinical epidemiology: the Danish National Pathology Registry and Data Bank. Clin Epidemiol. 2010;(2):51-56. doi: 10.2147/clep.s9908.
13. Nishi A, Milner DA Jr, Giovanucci EL, Nishihara R, Tan S, Kawachi I, et al. Integration of Molecular Pathology, Epidemiology, and Social Science for Global Precision Medicine. Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2016;16(1):11-23. doi: 10.1586/14737159.2016.1115346
14. Aller RD. Pathology’s Contributions to Disease Surveillance: Sending Our Data to Public Health Officials and Encouraging Our Clinical Colleagues to Do So. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2009;133(6):926-932. doi: 10.1043/1543-2165-133.6.926
15. Ogino S, King EE, Beck AE, Sherman ME, Milner DA, Giovanucci E. Interdisciplinary Education to Integrate Pathology and Epidemiology: Towards Molecular and Population-Level Health Science. Am J Epidemiol. 2012;176(8):659-667. doi: 10.1093/aje/kws226.
16. Elston J. Partnerships. In: Guest C, Ricciardi W, Kawachi I, Lang I, editors. Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice. 3 ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press; 2013. p. 526-39.
17. Ortiz Yanine MI. Métodos moleculares y su aplicación en salud pública. En: Malagón-Londoño G, Moncayo-Medina A. Salud pública: Perspectivas. 2 ed. Editorial Médica Panamericana; 2011. p. 182-201.