TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial analysis to identify hotspots of prevalence of schizophrenia
AU - Moreno, Berta
AU - García-Alonso, Carlos R.
AU - Negín Hernández, Miguel A.
AU - Torres-González, Francisco
AU - Salvador-Carulla, Luis
N1 - Funding Information:
j Acknowledgments This project was partly funded by the Andalusian Foundation for Social Integration of the Mentally ill Patients, the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS: 98/087; redIAPP and SAMSERAP group:RD06/0018/0039) and the Andalusian Research Plan (PAI: CTS-01765 and CTS-587). We thank Francisco José Vázquez-Polo for his contribution to the Bayesian analysis and comments, also Carmen Rosales and José Alberto Salinas, geographers. We acknowledge all the staff of the South Granada Mental Health Area for help with data gathering. We would also like to thank Isolde Gornemann, Christina Emmett and Ian Johnstone for revision of the English text.
PY - 2008/10
Y1 - 2008/10
N2 - Introduction: The geographical distribution of mental health disorders is useful information for epidemiological research and health services planning. Objective: To determine the existence of geographical hotspots with a high prevalence of schizophrenia in a mental health area in Spain. Method: The study included 774 patients with schizophrenia who were users of the community mental health care service in the area of South Granada. Spatial analysis (Kernel estimation) and Bayesian relative risks were used to locate potential hotspots. Availability and accessibility were both rated in each zone and spatial algebra was applied to identify hotspots in a particular zone. Results: The age-corrected prevalence rate of schizophrenia was 2.86 per 1,000 population in the South Granada area. Bayesian analysis showed a relative risk varying from 0.43 to 2.33. The area analysed had a non-uniform spatial distribution of schizophrenia, with one main hotspot (zone S2). This zone had poor accessibility to and availability of mental health services. Conclusion: A municipality-based variation exists in the prevalence of schizophrenia and related disorders in the study area. Spatial analysis techniques are useful tools to analyse the heterogeneous distribution of a variable and to explain genetic/environmental factors in hotspots related with a lack of easy availability of and accessibility to adequate health care services.
AB - Introduction: The geographical distribution of mental health disorders is useful information for epidemiological research and health services planning. Objective: To determine the existence of geographical hotspots with a high prevalence of schizophrenia in a mental health area in Spain. Method: The study included 774 patients with schizophrenia who were users of the community mental health care service in the area of South Granada. Spatial analysis (Kernel estimation) and Bayesian relative risks were used to locate potential hotspots. Availability and accessibility were both rated in each zone and spatial algebra was applied to identify hotspots in a particular zone. Results: The age-corrected prevalence rate of schizophrenia was 2.86 per 1,000 population in the South Granada area. Bayesian analysis showed a relative risk varying from 0.43 to 2.33. The area analysed had a non-uniform spatial distribution of schizophrenia, with one main hotspot (zone S2). This zone had poor accessibility to and availability of mental health services. Conclusion: A municipality-based variation exists in the prevalence of schizophrenia and related disorders in the study area. Spatial analysis techniques are useful tools to analyse the heterogeneous distribution of a variable and to explain genetic/environmental factors in hotspots related with a lack of easy availability of and accessibility to adequate health care services.
KW - Mental health planning
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Spatial analysis
KW - Use of mental health services
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=53749100021&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00127-008-0368-3
DO - 10.1007/s00127-008-0368-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 18500483
AN - SCOPUS:53749100021
SN - 0933-7954
VL - 43
SP - 782
EP - 791
JO - Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
JF - Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
IS - 10
ER -