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A note on intrinsic conditional autoregressive models for disconnected graphs
Publication date: August 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 26Author(s): Anna Freni-Sterrantino, Massimo Ventrucci, Håvard RueAbstractIn this note we discuss (Gaussian) intrinsic conditional autoregressive (CAR) models for disconnected graphs, with the aim of providing practical guidelines for how these models should be defined, scaled and implemented. We show how these suggestions can be implemented in two examples, on disease mapping. (Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology)
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 11, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Cost-efficient case-control cluster sampling designs for population-based epidemiological studies
Publication date: August 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 26Author(s): Thomas Ly, Myles Cockburn, Bryan LangholzAbstractCost-efficient sampling schemes for population-based case-control studies are necessary for sampling subjects in geographically dispersed populations where in-house surveys are expensive to conduct due to high interviewer travel costs that may be associated with simple random sampling. Motivated by the original study conducted by Cockburn et al. (2011) that investigated the relationship between exposure to pesticides and prostate carcinogenesis, a set of cluster-based individu...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 11, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Regional variation in lung and bronchus cancer survival in the US using mortality-to-incidence ratios
This study used mortality-to-incidence rate ratios (MIR) calculated from 2008 to 2012 National Cancer Institute data to highlight state-level variations in relative lung and bronchus cancer survival. In an ad hoc sensitivity analysis, we calculated a correlation between our state-level MIRs and five-year 1-survival rates for states reporting incident lung and bronchus cancer cases (2004–2008) to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program database. Differences were observed in state lung and bronchus cancer MIRs, with the highest MIR values (poor relative survival) in southern states and the lowest MIR...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 11, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

The spread of mosquito-borne viruses in modern times: A spatio-temporal analysis of dengue and chikungunya
In conclusion, our analysis provides crucial insights, which can be applied to improve nations' surveillance and preparedness for future vector-borne disease epidemics. (Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology)
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 11, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

The geo-spatial distribution of childhood diarrheal disease in West Africa, 2008–2013: A covariate-adjusted cluster analysis
Publication date: August 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 26Author(s): Gillian Dunn, Glen D. JohnsonAbstractDiarrhea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children in West Africa. To determine whether there are areas of heightened risk and if so, how they may be influenced by household and climatic variables, we describe the geo-spatial distribution of childhood diarrhea in ten countries of West Africa for the period 2008–2013 using data from Demographic and Health Surveys. The purely spatial scan statistic was applied, where the observed diarrhea cases were modeled as a Poisson va...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 11, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Mapping rural–urban disparities in late-stage cancer with high-resolution rurality index and GWR
Publication date: August 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 26Author(s): Liang Mao, Jue Yang, Guangran DengAbstractEffects of urban/rural residence on late-stage cancer have long been explored, but remained controversial. Spatial granularity of rural definition, temporal change of rurality, and local variability of such effects may contribute to inconsistent findings, but they have not been fully addressed. We proposed a spatially resolved and temporally comparable rurality index and a geographically weighted regression approach to re-examine this question. Taking Florida as an example, our analys...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 11, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Adult obesity prevalence at the county level in the United States, 2000–2010: Downscaling public health survey data using a spatial microsimulation approach
This study therefore, uses a spatial microsimulation approach to estimate obesity prevalence rates at the county level across the United States to visualize temporal, spatial and spatio-temporal changes from 2000 to 2010 for use in the monitoring of obesity prevalence. This method iteratively replicates the demographic characteristics of public health survey respondents with census data for those areas. Following, Local Moran's I was used to identify clusters of high and low obesity prevalence. The findings showed that obesity prevalence rose dramatically over the last decade with substantial variation across counties and ...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Zero-augmented accelerated spatial failure model for modeling hospital length of stay data
Publication date: Available online 25 May 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal EpidemiologyAuthor(s): Cindy Xin FengAbstractHospital length of stay (LOS) is often used as an indicator for hospital efficiency and resource utilization. LOS is nonnegative with presence of zeros and typically positively skewed with a long right tail, which may not be adequately modelled by traditional distributions, such as lognormal. We developed a zero-augmented accelerated frailty model for modeling the extreme skewness with the presence of zeros. Levels of utilization of health services may vary geographically, so conditional autoregres...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Potential effects of climate change on the risk of accidents with poisonous species of the genus Tityus (Scorpiones, Buthidae) in Argentina
Publication date: June 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 25Author(s): Pablo Ariel Martinez, Mayane Alves Andrade, Claudio Juan BidauAbstractThe temporal pattern of co-occurrence of human beings and venomous species (scorpions, spiders, snakes) is changing. Thus, the temporal pattern of areas with risk of accidents with such species tends to become dynamic in time. We analyze the areas of occurrence of species of Tityus in Argentina and assess the impact of global climate change on their area of distribution by the construction of risk maps. Using data of occurrence of the species and climatic var...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Editorial Board
Publication date: June 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 25Author(s): (Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology)
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Integrating activity spaces in health research: Comparing the VERITAS activity space questionnaire with 7-day GPS tracking and prompted recall
ConclusionsThere is a spatial correspondence between destinations collected through VERITAS and 7-day GPS tracking. Both collection methods offer complementary ways to assess daily mobilities, useful to study environmental determinants of health and health inequities. (Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology)
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Gaining relevance from the random: Interpreting observed spatial heterogeneity
Publication date: June 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 25Author(s): Rachel Carroll, Shanshan ZhaoAbstractIn Bayesian disease mapping, spatial random effects are used to account for confounding in the data so that reasonable estimates for the fixed effects can be obtained. Typically, the spatial random effects are mapped and qualitative comments are made related to an increase or decrease in risk for certain areas. The approach outlined here illustrates how a quantitative secondary assessment can be applied to make more useful and applicable inference related to these spatial random effects. We ...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

Gender and geographical inequalities in fatal drug overdose in Iran: A province-level study in 2006 and 2011
ConclusionRates of fatal drug overdose were higher among Iranian men and in both younger and older age groups which call for scaling up harm reduction and increasing access to gender- and age-specific substance use treatment services. (Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology)
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

A Bayesian latent process spatiotemporal regression model for areal count data
Publication date: June 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 25Author(s): C. Edson Utazi, Emmanuel O. Afuecheta, C. Christopher NnanatuAbstractModel-based approaches for the analysis of areal count data are commonplace in spatiotemporal analysis. In Bayesian hierarchical models, a latent process is incorporated in the mean function to account for dependence in space and time. Typically, the latent process is modelled using a conditional autoregressive (CAR) prior. The aim of this paper is to offer an alternative approach to CAR-based priors for modelling the latent process. The proposed approach is b...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research

A Bayesian spatio-temporal framework to identify outbreaks and examine environmental and social risk factors for infectious diseases monitored by routine surveillance
Publication date: June 2018Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, Volume 25Author(s): Aparna Lal, Jonathan Marshall, Jackie Benschop, Aleisha Brock, Simon Hales, Michael G Baker, Nigel P FrenchAbstractSpatio-temporal disease patterns can provide clues to etiological pathways, but can be complex to model. Using a flexible Bayesian hierarchical framework, we identify previously undetected space-time clusters and environmental and socio-demographic risk factors for reported giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis at the New Zealand small area level. For giardiasis, there was no seasonal pattern in outbreak probability and...
Source: Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology - July 5, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research