title: Social and spatial inequalities in Rotaviral enteritis: a case for universally funded vaccination in New Zealand.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Rotaviruses have long been recognised as the most common cause of diarrhoea-related childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. The benefits of national rotavirus vaccination programmes have been proven, with estimates of the reduction in hospital stays ranging from 70% to 90%. Previous work has found spatial variation in rotaviral rates between areas in Australia and Germany. This study sought to identify spatial and spatio-temporal variation in clustering of high and low neighbourhood rates of paediatric hospital admissions for RV disease in Auckland, New Zealand for the period 2006-2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Annual clusters of rotavirus hospitalisations were identified using a Local Moran's I Index from ArcGIS. Spatio-temporal variation during the study period used a retrospective spatial variation in temporal trends scan statistic in SatScan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Annual clusters of high and low rotavirus rates were identified for each year of the study and the spatio-temporal scan statistic confirmed that spatial clustering of rotavirus rates had shifted significantly during the study period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This research suggests that targeted rotaviral intervention is inappropriate and supports the introduction of a fully funded rotavirus vaccine in New Zealand in 2014.
authors.affiliation: GeoHealth Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. Christopher.Bowie@canterbury.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bowie
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Beere
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kingham
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004751:Enteritis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D022243:Rotavirus Vaccines / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014611:Vaccination / Q000191:economics*; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D022243:Rotavirus Vaccines