Supplementary tables: A municipality environmental pressure index as a geo-stratification tool for human and environmental monitoring studies.docx

Abstract: The Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Southern Italy (Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno – IZSM) is a public health institution operating within the Italian National Health Service. Over the past five years, IZSM has promoted several researches and interventions in an effort to tackle the “Land of Fires” phenomenon, caused by the continued trafficking and uncontrolled incineration of waste that has affected some areas of Campania for decades. In this article, a mathematical model that generates a municipality index of environmental pressure is presented. The model was developed by a multi-disciplinary team led by an environmental engineer, which included researchers in the fields of veterinary and human medicine, biology and computer science. This model may serve as a geo-stratification tool useful for the design of human biomonitoring studies, although it may also be employed for strategic planning of remediation programs and public health interventions.