Feasibility and utility of population-level geospatial injury profiling: prospective, national cohort study

Jan O Jansen; Jonathan J Morrison; Handing Wang; Shan He; Robin Lawrenson; Marion K Campbell; David R Green

doi:10.1097/TA.0000000000000617

Feasibility and utility of population-level geospatial injury profiling: prospective, national cohort study

Jan O Jansen, Jonathan J Morrison, Handing Wang, Shan He, Robin Lawrenson, Marion K Campbell, David R Green

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Geospatial analysis is increasingly being used to evaluate the design and effectiveness of trauma systems, but there are no metrics to describe the geographic distribution of incidents. The aim of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the feasibility and utility of using spatial analysis to characterize, at scale, the geospatial profile of an injured population.

METHODS: This is a prospective national cohort study of all trauma patients attended to by the Scottish Ambulance Service in a complete year (between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014). Incident location and severity were collected at source. Incident distribution was evaluated using geostatistical techniques.

RESULTS: There were 80,391 recorded incidents involving traumatic injury. Incident density was highest in the central Southern part of the country and along the East coast, broadly following the population distribution and road network. The overall distribution was highly clustered, and centered on the central Southern and Eastern parts of the country. When analyzed by triage category, the distribution of incidents triaged to major trauma center care was slightly less clustered than that of incidents triaged to trauma unit or local emergency hospital care, but the spread was similar. When analyzed by type of injury, assaults and falls were more clustered than incidents relating to traffic and transportation.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the feasibility and power of describing the geographic distribution of a group of injured patients. The methodology described has potential application for injury surveillance and trauma system design and evaluation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	962-969
Number of pages	8
Journal	The journal of trauma and acute care surgery
Volume	78
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1097/TA.0000000000000617
Publication status	Published - May 2015

Bibliographical note

The Health Services Research Unit receives funding from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors alone. The GEOS study was funded by the North of Scotland Planning Group.

Keywords

geospatial modeling
trauma systems
health services research
trauma epidemiology
Scotland

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10.1097/TA.0000000000000617Licence: Unspecified

SIP - Draft J3 (post-publication for UoA)
This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in Jansen, JO, Morrison, JJ, Wang, H, He, S, Lawrenson, R, Campbell, MK & Green, DR 2015, 'Feasibility and utility of population-level geospatial injury profiling: prospective, national cohort study' The journal of trauma and acute care surgery, vol 78, no. 5, pp. 962-969., 10.1097/TA.0000000000000617
Accepted author manuscript, 2.39 MB

David Green
- School of Geosciences, Geography & Environment - Reader
Person: Academic

Cite this

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title = "Feasibility and utility of population-level geospatial injury profiling: prospective, national cohort study",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: Geospatial analysis is increasingly being used to evaluate the design and effectiveness of trauma systems, but there are no metrics to describe the geographic distribution of incidents. The aim of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the feasibility and utility of using spatial analysis to characterize, at scale, the geospatial profile of an injured population.METHODS: This is a prospective national cohort study of all trauma patients attended to by the Scottish Ambulance Service in a complete year (between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014). Incident location and severity were collected at source. Incident distribution was evaluated using geostatistical techniques.RESULTS: There were 80,391 recorded incidents involving traumatic injury. Incident density was highest in the central Southern part of the country and along the East coast, broadly following the population distribution and road network. The overall distribution was highly clustered, and centered on the central Southern and Eastern parts of the country. When analyzed by triage category, the distribution of incidents triaged to major trauma center care was slightly less clustered than that of incidents triaged to trauma unit or local emergency hospital care, but the spread was similar. When analyzed by type of injury, assaults and falls were more clustered than incidents relating to traffic and transportation.CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the feasibility and power of describing the geographic distribution of a group of injured patients. The methodology described has potential application for injury surveillance and trauma system design and evaluation.",

keywords = "geospatial modeling, trauma systems , health services research , trauma epidemiology, Scotland",

author = "Jansen, {Jan O} and Morrison, {Jonathan J} and Handing Wang and Shan He and Robin Lawrenson and Campbell, {Marion K} and Green, {David R}",

note = "The Health Services Research Unit receives funding from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors alone. The GEOS study was funded by the North of Scotland Planning Group.",

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AU - He, Shan

AU - Lawrenson, Robin

AU - Campbell, Marion K

AU - Green, David R

N1 - The Health Services Research Unit receives funding from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors alone. The GEOS study was funded by the North of Scotland Planning Group.

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N2 - BACKGROUND: Geospatial analysis is increasingly being used to evaluate the design and effectiveness of trauma systems, but there are no metrics to describe the geographic distribution of incidents. The aim of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the feasibility and utility of using spatial analysis to characterize, at scale, the geospatial profile of an injured population.METHODS: This is a prospective national cohort study of all trauma patients attended to by the Scottish Ambulance Service in a complete year (between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014). Incident location and severity were collected at source. Incident distribution was evaluated using geostatistical techniques.RESULTS: There were 80,391 recorded incidents involving traumatic injury. Incident density was highest in the central Southern part of the country and along the East coast, broadly following the population distribution and road network. The overall distribution was highly clustered, and centered on the central Southern and Eastern parts of the country. When analyzed by triage category, the distribution of incidents triaged to major trauma center care was slightly less clustered than that of incidents triaged to trauma unit or local emergency hospital care, but the spread was similar. When analyzed by type of injury, assaults and falls were more clustered than incidents relating to traffic and transportation.CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the feasibility and power of describing the geographic distribution of a group of injured patients. The methodology described has potential application for injury surveillance and trauma system design and evaluation.

AB - BACKGROUND: Geospatial analysis is increasingly being used to evaluate the design and effectiveness of trauma systems, but there are no metrics to describe the geographic distribution of incidents. The aim of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the feasibility and utility of using spatial analysis to characterize, at scale, the geospatial profile of an injured population.METHODS: This is a prospective national cohort study of all trauma patients attended to by the Scottish Ambulance Service in a complete year (between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014). Incident location and severity were collected at source. Incident distribution was evaluated using geostatistical techniques.RESULTS: There were 80,391 recorded incidents involving traumatic injury. Incident density was highest in the central Southern part of the country and along the East coast, broadly following the population distribution and road network. The overall distribution was highly clustered, and centered on the central Southern and Eastern parts of the country. When analyzed by triage category, the distribution of incidents triaged to major trauma center care was slightly less clustered than that of incidents triaged to trauma unit or local emergency hospital care, but the spread was similar. When analyzed by type of injury, assaults and falls were more clustered than incidents relating to traffic and transportation.CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the feasibility and power of describing the geographic distribution of a group of injured patients. The methodology described has potential application for injury surveillance and trauma system design and evaluation.

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Feasibility and utility of population-level geospatial injury profiling: prospective, national cohort study

Abstract

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David Green

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