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Objective: Socioeconomic risk factors may contribute to geographic variation in diseases, but studies are limited due to lack of large available cohorts. Method: A geographic analysis was performed of the association between socioeconomic risk factors and the distribution of vestibular schwannomas in adults diagnosed with sporadic vestibular schwannomas through the National Health Services in the West of Scotland from 2000 to 2015. Results: A total of 511 sporadic vestibular schwannomas were identified in a population of over 3.1 million. Prevalence of vestibular schwannomas were lowest in cases with good health (–0.64, 95 per cent confidence interval: –0.93,–0.38; p = 0.002) and level 1 qualifications (–0.562, 95 per cent confidence interval: –0.882 to –0.26; p = 0.01). However, these risk factors did not demonstrate consistent linearity of correlations. Prevalence was lower in people originating from European Union accession countries from April 2001 to March 2011 (–0.63, 95 per cent confidence interval: –0.84 to –0.43; p = 0.002). No correlation between distribution of vestibular schwannomas and socioeconomic risk factors met our threshold criteria (± 0.7). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that there is little variation in distribution of vestibular schwannomas by socioeconomic risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pneumonia and influenza represent a significant public health burden in Canada and abroad. Knowledge of how this burden varies geographically provides clues to understanding the determinants of these illnesses, and insight into the effective management of health-care resources. We conducted a retrospective, population-based, ecological-level study to assess age- and gender-specific spatial patterns of pneumonia and influenza hospitalizations in the province of Ontario, Canada from 1992 to 2001. Results revealed marked variability in hospitalization rates by age, as well as clear and statistically significant patterns of high rates in northern rural counties and low rates in southern urban counties. A moderate yet significant level of positive spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I=0.21, P<0.05) was found in the global data, with significant, age-specific clusters of high values or 'hot spots' identified in several northern counties. Findings illustrate the need for geographically focused prevention strategies, and resource and service allocation policies informed by regional and population-specific demands.