An analysis of temporal and spatial patterns in Italian hospitalization rates for multiple diagnosis

Michela Cameletti; Francesco Finazzi

doi:10.1016/j.sste.2016.04.012

An analysis of temporal and spatial patterns in Italian hospitalization rates for multiple diagnosis

Spat Spatiotemporal Epidemiol. 2016 Nov:19:37-45. doi: 10.1016/j.sste.2016.04.012. Epub 2016 May 3.

Authors

Michela Cameletti¹, Francesco Finazzi²

Affiliations

¹ University of Bergamo, via dei Caniana, 2, 24127 Bergamo (BG), Italy.
² University of Bergamo, via dei Caniana, 2, 24127 Bergamo (BG), Italy. Electronic address: francesco.finazzi@unibg.it.

PMID: 27839579
DOI: 10.1016/j.sste.2016.04.012

Abstract

In this paper, the Italian hospitalization database provided by the Ministry of Health is analyzed in terms of the temporal and spatial patterns of the hospitalization rates. The database covers the period 2010-2012 and the rates are evaluated for 110 Italian provinces and 18 diagnosis groups as defined by the ICD-9 classification. The analysis is based on a novel model-based clustering approach which enables clustering of spatially registered time series with respect to latent temporal patterns. The clustering result is analyzed to study the spatial distribution of the latent temporal patterns and their trend in order to identify possible critical areas in terms of increasing rates. Additionally, emerging spatial patterns may help common causes driving the hospitalization rates to be identified.

Keywords: Aetology; Cluster analysis; ICD-9; Trend analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cluster Analysis
Diagnosis-Related Groups / statistics & numerical data*
Humans
Italy / epidemiology
Patient Admission / statistics & numerical data*
Spatio-Temporal Analysis