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. 2021 Sep;54(5):301-308.
doi: 10.3961/jpmph.21.160. Epub 2021 Aug 26.

A Systematic Review of Spatial and Spatio-temporal Analyses in Public Health Research in Korea

Han Geul Byun  1 , Naae Lee  1 , Seung-Sik Hwang  1
Affiliations

A Systematic Review of Spatial and Spatio-temporal Analyses in Public Health Research in Korea

Han Geul Byun et al. J Prev Med Public Health. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: Despite its advantages, it is not yet common practice in Korea for researchers to investigate disease associations using spatio-temporal analyses. In this study, we aimed to review health-related epidemiological research using spatio-temporal analyses and to observe methodological trends.

Methods: Health-related studies that applied spatial or spatio-temporal methods were identified using 2 international databases (PubMed and Embase) and 4 Korean academic databases (KoreaMed, NDSL, DBpia, and RISS). Two reviewers extracted data to review the included studies. A search for relevant keywords yielded 5919 studies.

Results: Of the studies that were initially found, 150 were ultimately included based on the eligibility criteria. In terms of the research topic, 5 categories with 11 subcategories were identified: chronic diseases (n=31, 20.7%), infectious diseases (n=27, 18.0%), health-related topics (including service utilization, equity, and behavior) (n=47, 31.3%), mental health (n=15, 10.0%), and cancer (n=7, 4.7%). Compared to the period between 2000 and 2010, more studies published between 2011 and 2020 were found to use 2 or more spatial analysis techniques (35.6% of included studies), and the number of studies on mapping increased 6-fold.

Conclusions: Further spatio-temporal analysis-related studies with point data are needed to provide insights and evidence to support policy decision-making for the prevention and control of infectious and chronic diseases using advances in spatial techniques.

Keywords: Geographic information systems; Public health; Spatial analysis; Spatio-temporal analysis; Systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors have no conflicts of interest associated with the material presented in this paper.

Figures

Figure. 1.
Figure. 1.
Study flow from the literature search to data extraction and analysis.
Figure. 2.
Figure. 2.
The total number of studies from 1999 to October 2020.
Figure. 3.
Figure. 3.
The number of publication by subject before and after 2010.
Figure. 4.
Figure. 4.
The number of articles by type of spatial methods.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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