Abstract
BackgroundThe availability of big data in healthcare and the intensive development of data reuse and georeferencing have opened up perspectives for health spatial analysis. However, fine-scale spatial studies of ecological and medical databases are limited by the change of support problem and thus a lack of spatial unit interoperability. The use of spatial disaggregation methods to solve this problem introduces errors into the spatial estimations. Here, we present a generic, two-step method for merging medical and ecological databases that avoids the use of spatial disaggregation methods, while maximizing the spatial resolution.MethodsFirstly, a mapping table is created after one or more transition matrices have been defined. The latter link the spatial units of the original databases to the spatial units of the final database. Secondly, the mapping table is validated by (1) comparing the covariates contained in the two original databases, and (2) checking the spatial validity with a spatial continuity criterion and a spatial resolution index.ResultsWe used our novel method to merge a medical database (the French national diagnosis-related group database, containing 5644 spatial units) with an ecological database (produced by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, and containing with 36,594 spatial units). The mapping table yielded 5632 final spatial units. The mapping table’s validity was evaluated by comparing the number of births in the medical database and the ecological databases in each final spatial unit. The median [interquartile range] relative difference was 2.3% [0; 5.7]. The spatial continuity criterion was low (2.4%), and the spatial resolution index was greater than for most French administrative areas.ConclusionsOur innovative approach improves interoperability between medical and ecological databases and facilitates fine-scale spatial analyses. We have shown that disaggregation models and large aggregation techniques are not necessarily the best ways to tackle the change of support problem.
Highlights
The availability of big data in healthcare and the intensive development of data reuse and georeferencing have opened up perspectives for health spatial analysis
Spatial analysis can be applied to point data, geostatistical data and
The availability of big data in healthcare [15,16,17] and the intensive development of data reuse [18, 19] and georeferencing [20, 21] have opened up new perspectives for describing healthcare consumption or disease prevalence/incidence over large geographical areas—even whole countries—and analyzing their ecological determinants [22, 23]
Summary
The availability of big data in healthcare and the intensive development of data reuse and georeferencing have opened up perspectives for health spatial analysis. A spatial analysis of the incidence of Crohn’s disease in northern France examined correlations between two data sources: all new cases of Crohn’s disease recorded in the EPIMAD register for each district (canton), and the characteristics of each of these districts in terms of the underlying population and the living environment. The availability of big data in healthcare [15,16,17] and the intensive development of data reuse [18, 19] and georeferencing [20, 21] have opened up new perspectives for describing healthcare consumption or disease prevalence/incidence over large geographical areas—even whole countries—and analyzing their ecological determinants (such as socio-economic factors) [22, 23]
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