The use of different statistical methods in epidemiological analysis to assess the seasonality and territorial spread of infectious diseases
Shakhanina, I.L.; Kucherovbskaia, T.V.; Chernova, T.P.
Zhurnal Mikrobiologii Epidemiologii i Immunobiologii 5: 43-47
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0372-9311 PMID: 2386002 Document Number: 359700
To solve the problems connected with the evaluation of the seasonal and territorial distribution of infectious diseases, indications and limitations for the use of the following statistical methods have been worked out: the calculation of the monthly morbidity level, the proportion of cases of infectious diseases falling on the months of seasonal morbidity rises, the proportion of such cases appearing due to the influence of seasonal factors, the total and partial indices, the average monthly rate of increase in seasonal morbidity, the complex evaluation of seasonal morbidity, the evaluation of the nonparallelism of two curves, the determination of the mean quadratic deviations and Shannon's entropy. The algorithms based on these methods lie in the foundation of 11 computer programs, forming the software complex "Epidanalysis" and provided with the service menu permitting an epidemiologist to proceed from the task via indications and limitations to the corresponding program. The programs are intended for different types of computers (IBM PC XT, EC-1640, Robotron 1715).