Modelling and predicting the spatial dispersion of skin cancer considering environmental and socio-economic factors using a digital earth approach |
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| Authors: | Zohreh Masoumi John L van Genderen Mohammad Sadi Mesgari |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Earth Sciences, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences, Zanjan, Iranz.masoumi@iasbs.ac.ir;3. Department of Earth Observation Sciences (ITC), University of Tewnte, Enschede, The Netherlands;4. GIS departement, Geomatics engineering faculty, Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology, Geospatial Information System, Tehran, Iran |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACTAlmost all causative factors of diseases depend on location. The Digital Earth approach is suitable for studying diseases globally. Geospatial information systems integrated with statistical models can be used to model the relationship between a disease and its causative factors. Through modelling, the most important causative factors can be extracted and the epidemiology of the disease can be observed. In this paper, skin cancer (the most common type of cancer) has been modelled based on its causative factors, including climate factors, people's occupations, nutrition habits, socio-economic factors, and usage of chemical fertiliser. To fit the model, a data framework was first designed, and then data were gathered and processed. Finally, the disease was modelled using Generalised Linear Models (GLM), a statistical model based on the location of the factors. The results of this study identify the most important causative factors together with their relative priority. Furthermore, a model was used to predict the change in skin cancer occurrences caused by a change in one of its causative factors. This work illustrates the ability of the model to predict disease occurrence. Thus, by using this Digital Earth approach, skincancer can be studied in all the key countries around the world. |
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| Keywords: | Digital Earth skin cancer geo-statistics geospatial information systems (GIS) global climate change |
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