Using GIS to Address Epidemiologic Research Questions

Purpose of Review GIS provide us with a view of human health that cannot be obtained by other methods. The review considers recent uses of GIS to address epidemiologic questions by taking into account their spatial dimensions, highlighting the most commonly adopted methods and current trends. Recent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current epidemiology reports 2019-06, Vol.6 (2), p.162-173
Main Author: Cromley, Ellen K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clustering
Epidemiologic Methods (P Howards
Epidemiology
Geographic information systems
Health
Medical research
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Questions
Regression analysis
Satellite navigation systems
Section Editor
Software packages
Spatial data
Spatial distribution
Statistics
Technological change
Topical Collection on Epidemiologic Methods
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Summary:Purpose of Review GIS provide us with a view of human health that cannot be obtained by other methods. The review considers recent uses of GIS to address epidemiologic questions by taking into account their spatial dimensions, highlighting the most commonly adopted methods and current trends. Recent Findings Methods for geocoding individual health data vary by place depending on the databases available and are not always described in sufficient detail. Open and proprietary online geocoding services are becoming more widely used, but they pose issues for health research. Spatial scan statistics have been joined by statistics measuring spatial autocorrelation as key methods for detecting clusters. Numerous studies revealing significant global and local patterns in health conditions are leading to increased interest in methods, such as geographically weighted regression, to explore spatially varying relationships between factors and outcomes. The software packages for clustering and geographically weighted regression analyses are generally available in free downloadable packages. Health research using these methods is now being conducted in every region of the world, but much of this work appears outside mainstream epidemiology journals. Summary The spatial data handling capabilities of GIS have made it possible to manage and analyze health data in new ways. Technological change affecting how health researchers acquire and process the digital spatial data required to use GIS to answer epidemiologic questions presents challenges for the future.
ISSN:2196-2995
2196-2995
DOI:10.1007/s40471-019-00193-6