The identification of local priority areas for health promotion using epidemiological mapping

Abstract

The geographical distributions and causes of deaths occurring in Leeds residents aged 15–64, during 1985 and 1986, were studied. The results were used to construct an epidemiological map showing the standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for males and females in each postal district. SMRs ranged from 67 to 171 in men and from 63 to 157 in women, and high SMRs were not confined to postal districts covering inner city areas. Potentially avoidable deaths accounted for 57.6% of the male and 36.9% of the female deaths, and some postal districts had three times the proportion of avoidable deaths than others. Although no firm conclusions can be drawn from the results of a single study, the wide variations in mortality observed point to a need for health education to reduce such disparities. It is suggested that the compilation of an epidemiological map to show the distribution and nature of premature deaths within a health district, is a useful first step in planning a local health promotion campaign, which can be updated annually to identify temporal trends.