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KMID : 0613620110310010217
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Health Social Welfare Review
2011 Volume.31 No. 1 p.217 ~ p.237
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Malaria Prevalence Rate and Weather Factors in Korea
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Shin Ho-Sung
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Abstract
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Malaria has been eradicated since 1970’s, but has re-emerged near the DMZ in 1993. Malaria prevalence rates have tended to increase over time. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of weather factors on municipal malaria patient numbers, and to predict the future prevalence rate of malaria. The data came from 2005~2007 claim data from the National Health Insurance, which is calculated based on the municipal level in weekly time bands. Weather data were taken, including daily temperature and precipitation from 194 automatic weather station (AWS) managed by the Korea Meteorological Administration. The analytical approach that was used were a generalized estimation equation and a generalized linear model for a time-series of Poisson distribution. To account for the seasonal patterns of malaria not directly due to weather factors, Fourier terms with annual periodicity were introduced into the model. To allow autocorrelation due to the biological process of pathogen development and host reactions, we also considered time lags, cubic spline, and change point analysis. Malaria patients had continuously shown an increase during the study period. In 2007, for example, malaria patients were 2.5 on average and 400 in the maximum compared to those of the year 2005, which were 1.3 on average and 262 in the maximum. The distribution of the predicted model showed the shape of a character ‘M’, which had three change points in temperature 0.8℃, 20.2℃, and 31.2℃. In the prediction model of malaria, marginal temperature effects after the second change point temperature (20.2℃) was a 0.202 increase of the weekly municipal patients per 100,000 of population. While analyzing the effects of a regional socioeconomic status on malaria prevalence, we found the inverse relationship between estimated malaria patients and the deprivation index. In this study, malaria largely occurred near the DMZ, but we need more detailed investigations in specific regions such as costal areas and large cities.
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KEYWORD
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Malaria, Weather Factor, Composite Deprivation Index, Geographic Information System, Climate Change
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