A Practical Strategy of Informatics, Geospatial Mapping, Geodemographic Segmentation, and Regression Analyses to...

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Geospatial Analysis
• Public Health

Background:

• Geodemographic segmentation (GDS) is a business marketing tool underutilized in medicine.
• GDS can be leveraged to improve patient adherence to evidence-based guidelines.
• Understanding patient segments is key to designing effective health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply GDS and geospatial informatics to understand and address nonadherence to colorectal cancer screening.
• To identify specific patient subgroups and geographic locations with low screening adherence.
• To explore how contextual neighborhood data can inform adherence strategies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized informatics, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), regression, and GDS methodologies.
• Analyzed a cohort of 15,944 US veterans for colorectal cancer screening adherence.
• Linked patient addresses to GDS neighborhood 'portraits' for contextual analysis.

Main Results:

• Over half (56%) of patients were nonadherent to colorectal cancer screening.
• Geospatial analysis identified clusters of low adherence.
• Regression analysis revealed lower adherence in younger, Hispanic patients and those in specific neighborhoods.

Conclusions:

• Developed an approach to identify 'who' is at risk, 'where' they live, and 'how' to promote screening adherence.
• GDS provides valuable neighborhood insights into patient information-seeking behaviors.
• Advocates for GDS to tailor health messages for patient subsets, similar to business marketing.