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

• Main Authors: Han Geul Byun (Author), Naae Lee (Author), Seung-sik Hwang (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Korean Society for Preventive Medicine, 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1975-8375; 2233-4521; 10.3961/jpmph.21.160
• Keywords: spatio-temporal analysis; spatial analysis; public health; systematic review; geographic information systems; Medicine; R; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Vol 54, Iss 5, Pp 301-308 (2021)

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.