title: Bayesian multi-scale modeling for aggregated disease mapping data.
abstract: In disease mapping, a scale effect due to an aggregation of data from a finer resolution level to a coarser level is a common phenomenon. This article addresses this issue using a hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework. We propose four different multiscale models. The first two models use a shared random effect that the finer level inherits from the coarser level. The third model assumes two independent convolution models at the finer and coarser levels. The fourth model applies a convolution model at the finer level, but the relative risk at the coarser level is obtained by aggregating the estimates at the finer level. We compare the models using the deviance information criterion (DIC) and Watanabe-Akaike information criterion (WAIC) that are applied to real and simulated data. The results indicate that the models with shared random effects outperform the other models on a range of criteria.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Public Heath Sciences, Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, MUSC, Charleston, USA.
authors.forename: Mehreteab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aregay
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Public Heath Sciences, Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, MUSC, Charleston, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.affiliation: 2 Interuniversity Institute for Biostatistics, statistical Bioinformatics, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: Christel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Faes
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Community and Family Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Russell S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kirby
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D056808:Biostatistics / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004194:Disease; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005845:Georgia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D016011:Normal Distribution; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk
keywords: Deviance information criterion; Watanabe-Akaike information criterion; predictive accuracy; scaling effect; shared random effect model