A simple multilevel approach for analysing geographical inequalities in public health reports: The case of municipality differences in obesity

Juan Merlo*, Philippe Wagner, George Leckie

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

51 Citations (Scopus)
283 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The epidemiological analysis of geographical inequalities in individual outcomes is a fundamental theme in public health research. However, many traditional studies focus on analysing area differences in averages outcomes, disregarding individual variation around such averages. In doing so, these studies may produce misleading information and lead researchers to draw incorrect conclusions. Analysing individual and municipality differences in body mass index (BMI) and overweight/obesity status, we apply an analytical approach based on the multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (MAIHDA). This analytical approach may be viewed as a reorganization of existing multilevel modelling concepts in order to provide a systematic approach to simultaneously considering both differences between area averages and individual heterogeneity around those averages. In doing so, MAIHDA provides an improved approach to the quantification and understanding of geographical inequalities as compared with traditional approaches.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102145
Number of pages9
JournalHealth and Place
Volume58
Early online date10 Jun 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2019

Research Groups and Themes

  • SoE Centre for Multilevel Modelling

Keywords

  • Discriminatory accuracy
  • Geographical differences
  • Multilevel analysis
  • Obesity
  • Public health

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