The role of socioeconomic and climatic factors in the spatio-temporal variation of human rabies in China

作者：Danhuai Guo, Wenwu Yin, Hongjie Yu, Jean‐Claude Thill, Weishi Yang, Feng Chen, Deqiang Wang · 发表于：BMC Infectious Diseases · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.1186/s12879-018-3427-8 · 被引用次数：35 · 研究领域：Rabies epidemiology and control、HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk、Zoonotic diseases and public health

BACKGROUND: Rabies is a significant public health problem in China. Previous spatial epidemiological studies have helped understand the epidemiology of animal and human rabies in China. However, quantification of effects derived from relevant factors was insufficient and complex spatial interactions were not well articulated, which may lead to non-negligible bias. In this study, we aimed to quantify the role of socio-economic and climate factors in the spatial distribution of human rabies to support decision making pertaining to rabies control in China. METHODS: We conducted a multivariate analysis of human rabies in China with explicit consideration for spatial heterogeneity and spatial dependence effects. The panel of 20,368 cases reported between 2005 and 2013 and their socio-economic and climate factors was implemented in regression models. Several significant covariates were extracted, including the longitude, the average temperature, the distance to county center, the distance to the road network and the distance to the nearest rabies case. The GMM was adopted to provide unbiased estimation with respect to heterogeneity and spatial autocorrelation. RESULTS: The analysis explained the inferred relationships between the counts of cases aggregated to 271 spatially-defined cells and the explanatory variables. The results suggested that temperature, longitude, the distance to county centers and the distance to the road network are positively associated with the local inciden...