Dealing with spatial misalignment to model the relationship between deprivation and life expectancy: a model-based...

Area of Science:

• Geostatistics
• Spatial Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• Life expectancy at birth (LEB) is a key indicator of population health and longevity.
• Understanding the relationship between LEB and socioeconomic factors like deprivation is crucial for reducing health inequalities.
• Existing methods face challenges analyzing LEB and deprivation data due to spatial misalignment and differing spatial scales.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a geostatistical framework for the joint analysis of LEB and the index of multiple deprivation (IMD).
• To enable spatially continuous predictions of LEB despite data being available at different spatial scales.
• To address the methodological challenges posed by spatial misalignment in areal-level data.

Main Methods:

• A model-based geostatistical approach was developed for joint LEB and IMD analysis.
• Spatial correlation was modeled using inter-point distances on a regular grid covering the study area.
• The methodology was applied to LEB and IMD data from the Liverpool district council.

Main Results:

• The impact of IMD on LEB was stronger in males (explaining 63.35% of spatial variation) than in females (38.92%).
• Estimated LEB was 8.5 years lower for men and 7.1 years for women in the most deprived areas of Liverpool compared to the least deprived.
• LEB was likely to be above the England-wide average in specific electoral wards (Childwall, Woolton, Church) for both sexes.

Conclusions:

• The novel geostatistical framework effectively addresses the spatial misalignment problem in analyzing aggregated spatial data.
• The methodology provides spatially continuous inferences, applicable to various forms of data misalignment and scales.
• The study highlights significant spatial inequalities in life expectancy linked to deprivation, emphasizing the need for targeted public health interventions.