U.S. Sleep Map and other Health GIS News

University of Pennsylvania researchers created a state by state sleep map using national data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The map suggests southerners have more sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue and westerners the least. The data is from a phone survey of 150,000 people. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medecine (subscription required) and maps are in the press release.

-via US News

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released data on worldwide obesity. The OECD report says obesity is related to inequality, with higher rates among poorer people. The data is available from OECD, but Great Lakes made the map which includes rates for girls and boys.

- Great Lakes Advocate

The first interactive global fistula map was launched on Tuesday, showing that one in 50 women receive treatment for this devastating childbirth injury which leaves women leaking urine and/or faeces uncontrollably. ...

The Global Fistula Map is a joint project by Direct Relief International, the Fistula Foundation and UNFPA, with data also contributed by EngenderHealth, Women and Health Alliance International, and the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons.

The goal is to better locate services for fixing this common problem. Tech: ArcGIS Online.

- Trustlaw.org

Comparing Maps of Obesity and Car Travel and other Health GIS News

Here, we examine visually, through a series of maps, the association between obesity, diabetes, and sedentary transportation.

The maps are striking, but Anne Price and Ariel Godwin conclude:

... the relationship between sedentary travel and health outcomes can be misleading when additional contributing factors are not taken into account. While it is not our intent to claim a direct causal link between transportation modes and obesity rates, it is hard to deny the existence of some geographic patterns.

- Planetizen

Health Canada is drafting national guidelines for electricity-generating wind turbines that will establish a recommended minimum safe distance between the structures and homes. ...The Health Canada guidelines will deal with noise and shadow flicker, and will account for the power of the turbine, the size of the blade and local geography, [Dr. Moira] McKinnon [Saskatchewan's chief medical health office] said.

No doubt they'll need ot use GIS, once they figure out the details to manage noise and other impacts.

- The Phoenix Star

The [second edition of the online] British Columbia Atlas of Wellness shows that northerners are more likely to smoke, eat unhealthy food and die sooner than their counterparts in Vancouver and Victoria.

- Times Colonist

Earlier this week, the Missouri Hospital Association launched www.MissouriHealthMatters.com. I recommend checking it out. The site contains quality of care and patient satisfaction data filtered through GIS technology with hospital specific information in a dashboard format. My thanks to David Dillon, MHA's VP of media relations, for giving me the heads-up on the website. I can attest to David's observation that the reports contain the same data as reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, "however the interface is much more user-friendly and locally-focused."

It uses ArcGIS Explorer Onilne, which took a while to load on my machine.

- Columbia Tribune

A RESEARCH OBSERVATORY based at NUI Maynooth [Kildare, Ireland] have unveiled a new online mapping tool that aims to show exactly how some parts of Ireland are covered by hospitals or schools.

The accessibility map, produced by the All-Island Research Observatory, highlights areas based on their proximity to facilities like hospitals, primary schools and secondary schools.

The map helps show diparities in services.

- The Journal.IE