On Studying Spatial Patterns and Association Between these Patterns of Mortality and Prosperity in Malaysia

Faisal G Khamis,Kamarulzaman Ibrahim,Abdul Aziz Jemain

doi:10.3844/ajassp.2008.881.890

Abstract

In this study, we examined the geographical distribution (the spatial structure) of mortality and prosperity in Malaysia. In addition we proposed an approach to investigate the association between clustering patterns of mortality and prosperity across different areas of the country. To characterize the geographic pattern of mortality and prosperity, three indicators (infant, neonatal, and stillbirth) were proposed for mortality and also three indicators (class1, class2 and class3) for occupation were proposed for prosperity. These indicators measure the level of mortality and prosperity factors for all 81 districts in peninsula Malaysia based on 1993 census data. Two statistics of spatial autocorrelation based on sharing boundary neighbours known as global and local Moran are used to investigate the global and local clustering respectively. We found that both mortality and prosperity varied significantly across the different districts. Also, we found many significant local clusters in both mortality (in the north, south and mid-west), and in prosperity (in the north and west). A significant association was found between mortality and prosperity based on the spatial correlation coefficient.

Highlights

More than 10 000 newborn babies die every day.[12]
We formulated two factors, mortality and prosperity using three indicators for each, and examined the global clustering and local clusters for each; we examined the association between the spatial pattern of mortality and the spatial pattern of prosperity, allowing for the effects of neighboring districts that share the boundary with a particular district
We studied the clustering of mortality and prosperity separately, and the spatial association between them

Summary

Introduction

More than 10 000 newborn babies die every day.[12]. Every year, it is estimated that under nutrition contributes to the deaths of about 5.6 million children under the age of five; 146 million children in the developing world are underweight and at increased risk of an early death.[2]. Benach and Yasui[9] analyzed the geographical pattern and the magnitude of the association between deprivation and mortality in Spain; they found that geographical gradient from north east to south west was shown by both mortality and deprivation. The general pattern is that the higher the individual income the lower the risk of disease and mortality.[16]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion