GIS Used to Help Decrease Stroke, Heart Disease, and Cardiovascular Risk 25%
Ten years ago the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) committed to a reduction of 25% in stroke, heart disease, and cardiovascular risk. And, they achieved it! How? A new report chronicles the systematic changes required. Among them: GIS.
Another interesting development has been the use of new kinds of information technology to understand how to attack the problem, he [Lee Schwamm, MD, from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, cochair of the writing committee on the report] said. “GIS mapping — geospatial information mapping — has turned out to be a very powerful tool to identify disparities in care, based on geographic factors or patient characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, age, or socioeconomic means. Now, because we can overlay this information onto maps of the US, along with regional death rates and the location of stroke centers, we can identify regions of the country that need special attention and resources.”
For example, he said, it might appear that there are a lot of stroke centers in the Northeast, but there is also high population density and a lot of patients in the Northeast. “When you look at a map absent those other key geospatial variables, you might think stroke care is disproportionately distributed in this country,” Dr. Schwamm points out. Many areas with fewer stroke centers also have very lower population density, he added, “so maybe we’re doing better than it first appears.”
- Medscape
