Understanding the use of geographical information systems (GIS) in health informatics research: A review

Shaw, Nicola; McGuire, Suzanne

doi:10.14236/jhi.v24i2.940

Cited by 62 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…There is a range of GIS-based advanced spatial methods that provide appropriate analyses for the assessment of the geographic variation of health care utilization [14–16]. Such methods allow for explicit use of GIS-linked data to study the geographical variation of care utilization [17] and perform in-depth analyses of factors associated with the geographical variation [18, 19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic differences in maternal and child health care utilization in four Ethiopian regions; a cross-sectional study

Defar

Okwaraji

Tigabu

et al. 2019

Int J Equity Health

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Background: Maternal and child health (MCH) care utilization often vary with geographic location. We analyzed the geographic distribution and determinants of utilization of four or more antenatal care visits, health facility delivery, child immunization, and care utilization for common childhood illnesses across four Ethiopian regions. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was employed with two-staged stratified cluster sampling in 46 districts of Ethiopia. A total of 6321 women (13-49 years) and 3110 children below the age of 5 years residing in 5714 households were included. We performed a cluster analysis of the selected MCH care utilization using spatial autocorrelation. We identified district-specific relationships between care coverage and selected factors using geocoded district-level data and ordinary least squares and hotspot analysis using Getis Ord Gi*. Results: Of the 6321women included in the study, 714 had a live birth in the 12 months before the survey. Onethird of the women (30, 95% CI 26-34) had made four or more antenatal visits and almost half of the women (47, 95% CI 43-51) had delivered their most recent child at a health facility. Nearly half of the children (48, 95% CI 40-57) with common childhood illnesses (suspected pneumonia, diarrhoea, or fever) sought care at the health facilities. The proportion of fully immunized children was 41% (95%, CI 37-45). Institutional delivery was clustered at district level (spatial autocorrelation, Moron's I = 0.217, P < 0.01). Full immunization coverage was also spatially clustered (Moron's I = 0.156, P-value < 0.1). Four or more antenatal visits were associated with women's age and parity, while the clustering of institutional delivery was associated with the number of antenatal care visits. Clustering of full immunization was associated with household members owning a mobile phone. Conclusions: This study showed evidence for geographic clustering in coverage of health facility deliveries and immunization at the district level, but not in the utilization of antenatal care and utilization of health services for common childhood illnesses. Identifying and improving district-level factors that influenced these outcomes may inform efforts to achieve geographical equitability and universal health coverage.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic differences in maternal and child health care utilization in four Ethiopian regions; a cross-sectional study

Defar

Okwaraji

Tigabu

et al. 2019

Int J Equity Health

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“…Geographic information systems (GIS) are widely applied in the field of public health [16] and are an effective tool to describe the spatiotemporal distribution, evolution, and aggregation of a disease as well as visualize morbidity and clustering regions on a map [17,18]. Researchers have generally applied spatial autocorrelation and space–time scan techniques to explore the spatial and temporal characteristics of various communicable diseases [19,20,21,22,23], which has contributed to the adoption of improved preventive and control measures for regions and periods with different risk levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiological Characteristics and Spatiotemporal Analysis of Mumps from 2004 to 2018 in Chongqing, China

Zhu

Zhao²,

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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Mumps vaccines have been widely used in recent years, but frequent mumps outbreaks and re-emergence around the world have not stopped. Mumps still remains a serious public health problem with a high incidence in China. The status of mumps epidemics in Chongqing, the largest city in China, is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological and spatiotemporal characteristics of mumps and to provide a scientific basis for formulating effective strategies for its prevention and control. Surveillance data of mumps in Chongqing from January 2004 to December 2018 were collected from the National Notifiable Diseases Reporting Information System. A descriptive analysis was conducted to understand the epidemiological characteristics. Hot spots and spatiotemporal patterns were identified by performing a spatial autocorrelation analysis, a purely spatial scan, and a spatiotemporal scan at the county level based on geographic information systems. A total of 895,429 mumps cases were reported in Chongqing, with an annual average incidence of 36.34 per 100,000. The yearly incidence of mumps decreased markedly from 2004 to 2007, increased sharply from 2007 to 2011, and then tapered with a two-year cyclical peak after 2011. The onset of mumps showed an obvious bimodal seasonal distribution, with a higher peak of mumps observed from April to July of each year. Children aged 5–9 years old, males, and students were the prime high-risk groups. The spatial distribution of mumps did not exhibit significant global autocorrelation in most years, but local indicators of spatial autocorrelation and scan statistics detected high-incidence clusters which were mainly located in the midwestern, western, northeastern, and southwestern parts of Chongqing. The aggregation time frame detected by the purely temporal scan was between March 2009 and July 2013. The incidence of mumps in Chongqing from 2004 to 2018 featured significant spatial heterogeneity and spatiotemporal clustering. The findings of this study might assist public health agencies to develop real-time space monitoring, especially in the clustering regions and at peak periods; to improve immunization strategies for long-term prevention; and to deploy health resources reasonably.

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“…Since the rst maps were used by Dr. John Snow in 1854 to trace the origin of a cholera outbreak in London's Soho district, carefully planned and designed maps have evidently been very powerful decision support and spatiotemporal analysis tools [9]. Geoinformatics is the science and technology of collecting, storing, analyzing, interpreting, visualizing, modeling, distributing and applying spatial reference information (GIS) [10]. Geoinformatics plays an important role in epidemiological research and response during epidemics, from geographic mapping to epidemiological modeling and location-based alert services [11,12].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Outbreak Maps on the Internet in the Prediction and Early Warning of Infectious Diseases

Cao

Qiu²,

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BackgroundA novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) has attracted worldwide attention since December 2019 when it appeared in Wuhan, China. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can cause respiratory distress syndrome or multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and be life-threatening. Covid-19 incidence can be reduced by using an outbreak map based on Geoinformatics. MethodsThis article introduces geographic mapping on the Internet and uses epidemic maps such as rank circles, choropleth rendering, overlay analysis and animation and other technologies to guide people’s behavior, reduce entry into areas with severe epidemics, and prevent new crowd infections. ResultsBy using various epidemic maps, households can reduce the access of people to the epidemic area (especially travellers to potentially at-risk areas), reduce the possibility of COVID-19 infection, and facilitate the timely diagnosis and treatment of fevered patients or suspected COVID-19. In addition, public health managers can intuitively understand the dynamics of the epidemic and spatial analysis of trends in outbreak dynamics and COVID-19 patterns helped to assist the public health sector and to evaluate/revise current control measures. ConclusionThe purpose of these online epidemic data collect and visualize is to notify travellers and assist the public or to analyzing the spatial and current trends and patterns of COVID-19 for public health authorities in assessing/revising current control measures.

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Understanding the use of geographical information systems (GIS) in health informatics research: A review

Abstract: backgroundThe purpose of this literature review is to understand geographical information systems (GISs) and how they can be applied to public health informatics, medical informatics and epidemiology.

Cited by 62 publications

References 33 publications

Geographic differences in maternal and child health care utilization in four Ethiopian regions; a cross-sectional study

Geographic differences in maternal and child health care utilization in four Ethiopian regions; a cross-sectional study

Epidemiological Characteristics and Spatiotemporal Analysis of Mumps from 2004 to 2018 in Chongqing, China

The Role of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Outbreak Maps on the Internet in the Prediction and Early Warning of Infectious Diseases

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