Epidemiologic mapping using the "kriging" method: application to an influenza-like illness epidemic in France.
This paper presents the application of a technique from the earth sciences, the "kriging" method, to the field of geographic epidemiology. Both the principles of the method and the basic equations are given. A key advantage of the method is that it relies on an analysis of the spatial variability of the data and allows the representation of the variable under study as a continuous process throughout a country. Application of the kriging method to the geographic distribution of an epidemic of influenza-like illness in France is discussed.
Carrat
F
F
Unité de Recherches Biomathématiques et Biostatistiques, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France.
Valleron
A J
AJ
D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008377:Maps as Topic; D013029:Space-Time Clustering; D013269:Stochastic Processes