Evaluating the Use of Alternative Distance Metrics in Spatial Regression Analysis of Health Data: A Spatio-temporal Comparison

A method is discussed to enhance the reliability of multivariate spatial regression analysis: alternative values of the Minkowski distance metric are used in the spatial weight matrix. The method is tested on an analysis of the association between heart disease incidence and a pool of socio-economic variables in Calgary over two consecutive census surveys. The method provides a reliable model, which can guide locational decisions to mitigate present and future disease incidence. The model is underpinned by a quantitative definition of neighbourhood connectivity throughout the city. Such connectivity, usually described by Euclidean distance, can be more effectively described by a specifically calibrated distance metric. The analytical results are meaningful, robust to neighbourhood size, and relatively constant over time. Owing to its effectiveness and simplicity, the procedure is generalizable to other health and socio-economic analysis. An automatic implementation is suggested, to assist in the definition of reliable spatial regression models.

[1]  J E Keil,et al.  Socioeconomic factors and cardiovascular disease: a review of the literature. , 1993, Circulation.

[2]  A. Bélanger,et al.  Report on the demographic situation in Canada 1997. , 1989 .

[3]  Mike Rees,et al.  5. Statistics for Spatial Data , 1993 .

[4]  L. Anselin.  Spatial Econometrics: Methods and Models , 1988 .

[5]  Kelvyn Jones,et al.  Using multilevel models to model heterogeneity: potential and pitfalls , 2010 .

[6]  A. Getis,et al.  Constructing the Spatial Weights Matrix Using a Local Statistic , 2004 .

[7]  Robert Haining,et al.  Statistics for spatial data: by Noel Cressie, 1991, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 900 p., ISBN 0-471-84336-9, US $89.95 , 1993 .

[8]  Sumeeta Srinivasan.  Spatial Regression Models , 2008, Encyclopedia of GIS.

[9]  Derek Thompson,et al.  Fundamentals of spatial information systems , 1992, A.P.I.C. series.

[10]  Gerard Rushton,et al.  Locational Analysis in Human Geography , 1967 .

[11]  Harold S. Luft,et al.  Correlation of Travel Time on Roads versus Straight Line Distance , 1995, Medical care research and review : MCRR.

[12]  W. Ghali,et al.  Overview of the Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease. On behalf of the APPROACH investigators. , 2000, The Canadian journal of cardiology.

[13]  Richard Shearmur,et al.  Comparing alternative approaches to measuring the geographical accessibility of urban health services: Distance types and aggregation-error issues , 2008, International journal of health geographics.

[14]  S. Bertazzon,et al.  A Spatial Analysis of the Demographic and Socio-economic Variables Associated with Cardiovascular Disease in Calgary (Canada) , 2010 .

[15]  Chris Brunsdon,et al.  Geographically Weighted Regression: The Analysis of Spatially Varying Relationships , 2002 .

[16]  Daniel A. Griffith,et al.  Statistical analysis for geographers , 1990 .

[17]  J. Keith Ord,et al.  Spatial Processes Models and Applications , 1981 .

[18]  Frederik P. Agterberg,et al.  Interactive spatial data analysis , 1996 .

[19]  G. Isac.  Models and applications , 1992 .

[20]  J. Besag,et al.  Spatial Statistics and Bayesian Computation , 1993 .

[21]  Stan Openshaw,et al.  Applying Geocomputation to the Analysis of Spatial Distributions , 1999 .

[22]  Arthur Getis,et al.  A History of the Concept of Spatial Autocorrelation: A Geographer's Perspective , 2008 .

[23]  Kelly E. Murray,et al.  Under the Hood , 1996, J. Object Oriented Program..

[24]  Luc Anselin,et al.  Under the hood , 2002 .

[25]  P. Haggett.  Locational analysis in human geography , 1967 .

[26]  O. Wigertz,et al.  Distance from the Primary Health Center: A GIS method to study geographical access to health care , 2005, Journal of Medical Systems.

[27]  Michael J. Donahoo,et al.  Under the Hood , 2009 .