Andrew B. Lawson

Progressively more and more attention has been paid to how location affects health outcomes. The area of disease mapping focusses on these problems, and the Bayesian paradigm has a major role to play in the understanding of the complex interplay of context and individual predisposition in such studies of disease. Using R for Bayesian Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Health Modeling provides a major resource for those interested in applying Bayesian methodology in small area health data studies.Features:Review of R graphics relevant to spatial health dataOverview of Bayesian methods and Bayesian hierarchical modeling as applied to spatial dataBayesian Computation and goodness-of-fitReview of basic Bayesian disease mapping modelsSpatio-temporal modeling with MCMC and INLASpecial topics include multivariate models, survival analysis, missing data, measurement error, variable selection, individual event modeling, and infectious disease modelingSoftware for fitting models based on BRugs, Nimble, CARBayes and INLAProvides code relevant to fitting all examples throughout the book at a supplementary website The book fills a void in the literature and available software, providing a crucial link for students and professionals alike to engage in the analysis of spatial and spatio-temporal health data from a Bayesian perspective using R. The book emphasizes the use of MCMC via Nimble, BRugs, and CARBAyes, but also includes INLA for comparative purposes. In addition, a wide range of packages useful in the analysis of geo-referenced spatial data are employed and code is provided. It will likely become a key reference for researchers and students from biostatistics, epidemiology, public health, and environmental science.

Progressively more and more attention has been paid to how location affects health outcomes. The area of disease mapping focusses on these problems, and the Bayesian paradigm has a major role to play in the understanding of the complex interplay of context and individual predisposition in such studies of disease. Using R for Bayesian Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Health Modeling provides a major resource for those interested in applying Bayesian methodology in small area health data studies.Features:Review of R graphics relevant to spatial health dataOverview of Bayesian methods and Bayesian hierarchical modeling as applied to spatial dataBayesian Computation and goodness-of-fitReview of basic Bayesian disease mapping modelsSpatio-temporal modeling with MCMC and INLASpecial topics include multivariate models, survival analysis, missing data, measurement error, variable selection, individual event modeling, and infectious disease modelingSoftware for fitting models based on BRugs, Nimble, CARBayes and INLAProvides code relevant to fitting all examples throughout the book at a supplementary website The book fills a void in the literature and available software, providing a crucial link for students and professionals alike to engage in the analysis of spatial and spatio-temporal health data from a Bayesian perspective using R. The book emphasizes the use of MCMC via Nimble, BRugs, and CARBAyes, but also includes INLA for comparative purposes. In addition, a wide range of packages useful in the analysis of geo-referenced spatial data are employed and code is provided. It will likely become a key reference for researchers and students from biostatistics, epidemiology, public health, and environmental science.

Since the publication of the second edition, many new Bayesian tools and methods have been developed for space-time data analysis, the predictive modeling of health outcomes, and other spatial biostatistical areas. Exploring these new developments, Bayesian Disease Mapping: Hierarchical Modeling in Spatial Epidemiology, Third Edition provides an up-to-date, cohesive account of the full range of Bayesian disease mapping methods and applications. In addition to the new material, the book also covers more conventional areas such as relative risk estimation, clustering, spatial survival analysis, and longitudinal analysis. After an introduction to Bayesian inference, computation, and model assessment, the text focuses on important themes, including disease map reconstruction, cluster detection, regression and ecological analysis, putative hazard modeling, analysis of multiple scales and multiple diseases, spatial survival and longitudinal studies, spatiotemporal methods, and map surveillance. It shows how Bayesian disease mapping can yield significant insights into georeferenced health data. The target audience for this text is public health specialists, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians who need to work with geo-referenced health data.

Since the publication of the second edition, many new Bayesian tools and methods have been developed for space-time data analysis, the predictive modeling of health outcomes, and other spatial biostatistical areas. Exploring these new developments, Bayesian Disease Mapping: Hierarchical Modeling in Spatial Epidemiology, Third Edition provides an up-to-date, cohesive account of the full range of Bayesian disease mapping methods and applications. In addition to the new material, the book also covers more conventional areas such as relative risk estimation, clustering, spatial survival analysis, and longitudinal analysis. After an introduction to Bayesian inference, computation, and model assessment, the text focuses on important themes, including disease map reconstruction, cluster detection, regression and ecological analysis, putative hazard modeling, analysis of multiple scales and multiple diseases, spatial survival and longitudinal studies, spatiotemporal methods, and map surveillance. It shows how Bayesian disease mapping can yield significant insights into georeferenced health data. The target audience for this text is public health specialists, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians who need to work with geo-referenced health data.

Since the publication of the first edition, many new Bayesian tools and methods have been developed for space-time data analysis, the predictive modeling of health outcomes, and other spatial biostatistical areas. Exploring these new developments, Bayesian Disease Mapping: Hierarchical Modeling in Spatial Epidemiology, Second Edition provides an up-to-date, cohesive account of the full range of Bayesian disease mapping methods and applications. A biostatistics professor and WHO advisor, the author illustrates the use of Bayesian hierarchical modeling in the geographical analysis of disease through a range of real-world datasets. New to the Second Edition Three new chapters on regression and ecological analysis, putative hazard modeling, and disease map surveillance Expanded material on case event modeling and spatiotemporal analysis New and updated examples Two new appendices featuring examples of integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) and conditional autoregressive (CAR) models In addition to these new topics, the book covers more conventional areas such as relative risk estimation, clustering, spatial survival analysis, and longitudinal analysis. After an introduction to Bayesian inference, computation, and model assessment, the text focuses on important themes, including disease map reconstruction, cluster detection, regression and ecological analysis, putative hazard modeling, analysis of multiple scales and multiple diseases, spatial survival and longitudinal studies, spatiotemporal methods, and map surveillance. It shows how Bayesian disease mapping can yield significant insights into georeferenced health data. WinBUGS and R are used throughout for data manipulation and simulation.

The growth of biostatistics has been phenomenal in recent years and has been marked by considerable technical innovation in both methodology and computational practicality. One area that has experienced significant growth is Bayesian methods. The growing use of Bayesian methodology has taken place partly due to an increasing number of practitioners valuing the Bayesian paradigm as matching that of scientific discovery. In addition, computational advances have allowed for more complex models to be fitted routinely to realistic data sets. Through examples, exercises and a combination of introductory and more advanced chapters, this book provides an invaluable understanding of the complex world of biomedical statistics illustrated via a diverse range of applications taken from epidemiology, exploratory clinical studies, health promotion studies, image analysis and clinical trials. Key Features: Provides an authoritative account of Bayesian methodology, from its most basic elements to its practical implementation, with an emphasis on healthcare techniques.Contains introductory explanations of Bayesian principles common to all areas of application.Presents clear and concise examples in biostatistics applications such as clinical trials, longitudinal studies, bioassay, survival, image analysis and bioinformatics.Illustrated throughout with examples using software including WinBUGS, OpenBUGS, SAS and various dedicated R programs.Highlights the differences between the Bayesian and classical approaches.Supported by an accompanying website hosting free software and case study guides. Bayesian Biostatistics introduces the reader smoothly into the Bayesian statistical methods with chapters that gradually increase in level of complexity. Master students in biostatistics, applied statisticians and all researchers with a good background in classical statistics who have interest in Bayesian methods will find this book useful.

Spatial epidemiology is the description and analysis of the geographical distribution of disease. It is more important now than ever, with modern threats such as bio-terrorism making such analysis even more complex. This second edition of Statistical Methods in Spatial Epidemiology is updated and expanded to offer a complete coverage of the analysis and application of spatial statistical methods. The book is divided into two main sections: Part 1 introduces basic definitions and terminology, along with map construction and some basic models. This is expanded upon in Part II by applying this knowledge to the fundamental problems within spatial epidemiology, such as disease mapping, ecological analysis, disease clustering, bio-terrorism, space-time analysis, surveillance and infectious disease modelling. Provides a comprehensive overview of the main statistical methods used in spatial epidemiology.Updated to include a new emphasis on bio-terrorism and disease surveillance.Emphasizes the importance of space-time modelling and outlines the practical application of the method.Discusses the wide range of software available for analyzing spatial data, including WinBUGS, SaTScan and R, and features an accompanying website hosting related software.Contains numerous data sets, each representing a different approach to the analysis, and provides an insight into various modelling techniques. This text is primarily aimed at medical statisticians, researchers and practitioners from public health and epidemiology. It is also suitable for postgraduate students of statistics and epidemiology, as well professionals working in government agencies.

Disease mapping involves the analysis of geo-referenced disease incidence data and has many applications, for example within resource allocation, cluster alarm analysis, and ecological studies. There is a real need amongst public health workers for simpler and more efficient tools for the analysis of geo-referenced disease incidence data. Bayesian and multilevel methods provide the required efficiency, and with the emergence of software packages – such as WinBUGS and MLwiN – are now easy to implement in practice. *Provides an introduction to Bayesian and multilevel modelling in disease mapping. *Adopts a practical approach, with many detailed worked examples. *Includes introductory material on WinBUGS and MLwiN. *Discusses three applications in detail – relative risk estimation, focused clustering, and ecological analysis. *Suitable for public health workers and epidemiologists with a sound statistical knowledge. *Supported by a Website featuring data sets and WinBUGS and MLwiN programs. Disease Mapping with WinBUGS and MLwiN provides a practical introduction to the use of software for disease mapping for researchers, practitioners and graduate students from statistics, public health and epidemiology who analyse disease incidence data.

Growing public awareness of environmental hazards has increased the demand for investigations into the geographical distribution of disease. Data resulting from studies is not always straightforward to interpret and An Introductory Guide to Disease Mapping aims to explain the basic principles underlying the construction and analysis of disease maps. * An introduction to new developments in disease mapping * Comprehensive coverage of an active area of research and development * Numerous case studies to highlight the application of the techniques discussed This text provides an invaluable introduction for all those with an interest in disease mapping, and is an essential volume for both the specialist and the non-specialist. It is of particular relevance to epidemiologists, medical statisticians, geographers and public health advisors, as well as environmental health workers, occupational health physicians and infectious disease specialists.