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. 2005 Mar 22;4(1):4.
doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-4-4.

Global, local and focused geographic clustering for case-control data with residential histories

Geoffrey M Jacquez  1 , Andy Kaufmann, Jaymie Meliker, Pierre Goovaerts, Gillian AvRuskin, Jerome Nriagu
Affiliations

Global, local and focused geographic clustering for case-control data with residential histories

Geoffrey M Jacquez et al. Environ Health. .

Abstract

Background: This paper introduces a new approach for evaluating clustering in case-control data that accounts for residential histories. Although many statistics have been proposed for assessing local, focused and global clustering in health outcomes, few, if any, exist for evaluating clusters when individuals are mobile.

Methods: Local, global and focused tests for residential histories are developed based on sets of matrices of nearest neighbor relationships that reflect the changing topology of cases and controls. Exposure traces are defined that account for the latency between exposure and disease manifestation, and that use exposure windows whose duration may vary. Several of the methods so derived are applied to evaluate clustering of residential histories in a case-control study of bladder cancer in south eastern Michigan. These data are still being collected and the analysis is conducted for demonstration purposes only.

Results: Statistically significant clustering of residential histories of cases was found but is likely due to delayed reporting of cases by one of the hospitals participating in the study.

Conclusion: Data with residential histories are preferable when causative exposures and disease latencies occur on a long enough time span that human mobility matters. To analyze such data, methods are needed that take residential histories into account.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cuzick and Edward's statistic through time. Graph of Cuzick and Edward's Tk statistic (top) and its Probability (bottom) through time for k = 5. Shown in red are those time intervals in which the probability of Tk was 0.0l or smaller.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic of residential histories. Graphical representation of residential histories from Equation 1 using the instantaneous displacement movement model. Location is on the x-axis, time on the y-axis. Individual i moves from location ui0 to ui1 at time t = 1, and stays at that place of residence until t = T. Individual j stays at the same place of residence from t = 0 to t = T.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Still from the animation of residential histories of cases, controls and industry in southeastern Michigan (additional file 2andadditional file 3).
Figure 4
Figure 4
formula imagethrough time. Graph of formula image (top) and its probability (bottom) through time for k = 5. formula image is the time weighted version of Qtki and is expressed in case-seconds.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Map of cases and controls on 4/12/1997. Map of cases and controls on 4/12/1997. Cases are shown as dots within a circle, controls are shown as crosses. The two cases whose residential histories tend to be surrounded by the residential histories of other cases are shown in red.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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