A cross-sectional ecological analysis of international and sub-national health inequalities in commercial geospatial resource availability

Autor: Ademola Adewole, Mair L. H. Thomas, James S. Wright, Nicola A. Wardrop, Winfred Dotse-Gborgbortsi
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Resource (biology)
Geospatial analysis
Internationality
General Computer Science
Drive-times
Health geography
0507 social and economic geography
Geographic Mapping
Nigeria
computer.software_genre
lcsh:Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics
Ghana
Sierra leone
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Bias
Patient travel
Inverse care law
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Digital divide
Environmental planning
Health inequalities
Geocoding
Research
05 social sciences
Public Health
Environmental and Occupational Health
Health Status Disparities
Neighbourhood statistics
GIS
General Business
Management and Accounting
3. Good health
Geospatial data
Open data
Geography
Cross-Sectional Studies
Socioeconomic Factors
Health Resources
lcsh:R858-859.7
Composite index
050703 geography
computer
Zdroj: International Journal of Health Geographics, Vol 17, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2018)
International Journal of Health Geographics
Popis: Background Commercial geospatial data resources are frequently used to understand healthcare utilisation. Although there is widespread evidence of a digital divide for other digital resources and infra-structure, it is unclear how commercial geospatial data resources are distributed relative to health need. Methods To examine the distribution of commercial geospatial data resources relative to health needs, we assembled coverage and quality metrics for commercial geocoding, neighbourhood characterisation, and travel time calculation resources for 183 countries. We developed a country-level, composite index of commercial geospatial data quality/availability and examined its distribution relative to age-standardised all-cause and cause specific (for three main causes of death) mortality using two inequality metrics, the slope index of inequality and relative concentration index. In two sub-national case studies, we also examined geocoding success rates versus area deprivation by district in Eastern Region, Ghana and Lagos State, Nigeria. Results Internationally, commercial geospatial data resources were inversely related to all-cause mortality. This relationship was more pronounced when examining mortality due to communicable diseases. Commercial geospatial data resources for calculating patient travel times were more equitably distributed relative to health need than resources for characterising neighbourhoods or geocoding patient addresses. Countries such as South Africa have comparatively high commercial geospatial data availability despite high mortality, whilst countries such as South Korea have comparatively low data availability and low mortality. Sub-nationally, evidence was mixed as to whether geocoding success was lowest in more deprived districts. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first global analysis of commercial geospatial data resources in relation to health outcomes. In countries such as South Africa where there is high mortality but also comparatively rich commercial geospatial data, these data resources are a potential resource for examining healthcare utilisation that requires further evaluation. In countries such as Sierra Leone where there is high mortality but minimal commercial geospatial data, alternative approaches such as open data use are needed in quantifying patient travel times, geocoding patient addresses, and characterising patients’ neighbourhoods. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12942-018-0134-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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