Spatial epidemiology is the description and analysis of geographic patterns and variations in disease risk factors,morbidity and mortality with respect to their distributions associated with demographic,socioeconomic,...Spatial epidemiology is the description and analysis of geographic patterns and variations in disease risk factors,morbidity and mortality with respect to their distributions associated with demographic,socioeconomic,environmental,health behavior,and genetic risk factors,and time-varying changes.In the Letter to Editor,we had a brief description of the practice for the mortality and the spacetime patterns of John Snow's map of cholera epidemic in London,United Kingdom in 1854.This map is one of the earliest public heath practices of developing and applying spatial epidemiology.In the early history,spatial epidemiology was predominantly applied in infectious disease and risk factor studies.However,since the recent decades,noncommunicable diseases have become the leading cause of death in both developing and developed countries,spatial epidemiology has been used in the study of noncommunicable disease.In the Letter,we addressed two examples that applied spatial epidemiology to cluster and identify stroke belt and diabetes belt across the states and counties in the United States.Similar to any other epidemiological study design and analysis approaches,spatial epidemiology has its limitations.We should keep in mind when applying spatial epidemiology in research and in public health practice.展开更多
Background:Latin America presently has the world’s highest burden of Zika virus,but there are unexplained differences in national rates of congenital malformations collectively referred to as Congenital Zika Syndrome...Background:Latin America presently has the world’s highest burden of Zika virus,but there are unexplained differences in national rates of congenital malformations collectively referred to as Congenital Zika Syndrome(CZS)in the region.While Zika virulence and case detection likely contribute to these differences,policy-related factors,including access to abortion,may play important roles.Our goal was to assess perspectives on,and access to,abortion in Latin America in the context of the Zika epidemic.Methods:We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed and gray literature published between January 2015 and December 2016,written in English,Spanish,Portuguese,or French.We searched PubMed,Scielo,and Google Scholar for literature on Zika and/or CZS and abortion,and used automated and manual review methods to synthesize the existing information.Results:36 publications met our inclusion criteria,the majority of which were qualitative.Publications were generally in favor of increased access to safe abortion as a policy-level response for mitigating the impact of CZS,but issues with implementation were cited as the main challenge.Aside from the reform of abortion regulation in Colombia,we did not find evidence that the Zika epidemic had triggered shifts in abortion policy in other countries.Conclusion:Abortion policy in the region remained largely unchanged following the Zika epidemic.Further empirical research on abortion access and differential rates of CZS across Latin American countries is required.展开更多
文摘Spatial epidemiology is the description and analysis of geographic patterns and variations in disease risk factors,morbidity and mortality with respect to their distributions associated with demographic,socioeconomic,environmental,health behavior,and genetic risk factors,and time-varying changes.In the Letter to Editor,we had a brief description of the practice for the mortality and the spacetime patterns of John Snow's map of cholera epidemic in London,United Kingdom in 1854.This map is one of the earliest public heath practices of developing and applying spatial epidemiology.In the early history,spatial epidemiology was predominantly applied in infectious disease and risk factor studies.However,since the recent decades,noncommunicable diseases have become the leading cause of death in both developing and developed countries,spatial epidemiology has been used in the study of noncommunicable disease.In the Letter,we addressed two examples that applied spatial epidemiology to cluster and identify stroke belt and diabetes belt across the states and counties in the United States.Similar to any other epidemiological study design and analysis approaches,spatial epidemiology has its limitations.We should keep in mind when applying spatial epidemiology in research and in public health practice.
文摘Background:Latin America presently has the world’s highest burden of Zika virus,but there are unexplained differences in national rates of congenital malformations collectively referred to as Congenital Zika Syndrome(CZS)in the region.While Zika virulence and case detection likely contribute to these differences,policy-related factors,including access to abortion,may play important roles.Our goal was to assess perspectives on,and access to,abortion in Latin America in the context of the Zika epidemic.Methods:We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed and gray literature published between January 2015 and December 2016,written in English,Spanish,Portuguese,or French.We searched PubMed,Scielo,and Google Scholar for literature on Zika and/or CZS and abortion,and used automated and manual review methods to synthesize the existing information.Results:36 publications met our inclusion criteria,the majority of which were qualitative.Publications were generally in favor of increased access to safe abortion as a policy-level response for mitigating the impact of CZS,but issues with implementation were cited as the main challenge.Aside from the reform of abortion regulation in Colombia,we did not find evidence that the Zika epidemic had triggered shifts in abortion policy in other countries.Conclusion:Abortion policy in the region remained largely unchanged following the Zika epidemic.Further empirical research on abortion access and differential rates of CZS across Latin American countries is required.
