Modeling and Spatial Epidemiology of Diarrhea in Mazandaran Province

Spatial epidemiology is the description and analysis of geographic variations of diseases with respect to demographic, environmental, behavioral, socioeconomic, genetic, and infectious risk factors. Disease mapping includes a set of statistical techniques that lead to providing clean maps based on estimation of the incidence, prevalence and mortality rates for the users to enable them to reliably estimate the distribution of the diseases. In this study, the spatial epidemiology of diarrhea was evaluated in Mazandaran.
In the present study, statistical methods like the Moran’s I spatial autocorrelation, Anselin local Moran’s I, K function and Ripley index were used to evaluate 4924 cases between 1385-1390, based on certain factors detected in diarrheal diseases.
The results of the global Moran index showed that this disease provided adherence to a cluster pattern in the province. The results of the K function also showed that apart from the western regions of the province, the diarrheal disease followed the above-mentioned cluster pattern. The results of Anselin local Moran and sensitive indicators revealed that the central region of the province, including the cities of Sari, Qaymshmhr, and Babol had the highest prevalence of the disease.
The results showed that the prevalence of syndrome diarrhea follows the pattern cluster and the use of spatial analysis methods in a specific geographic area is appropriate for programs to reduce health risks. And in epidemiological studies, analysis and risk assessment diarrhea syndrome are very important.