Feasibility of using survey data and semi-variogram kriging to obtain bespoke indices of neighbourhood characteristics: a simulation and a case study

TL;DR

This study explores the feasibility of using survey data and semi-variogram kriging to create customized neighborhood indices for epidemiological research, supported by simulations and a real case study.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining survey data and semi-variogram kriging to estimate neighborhood characteristics for health studies.

Findings

Reliable predictions require sufficient nearby observed data.

Good semi-variogram fitting improves accuracy.

Larger semi-variogram range enhances prediction reliability.

Abstract

Data on neighbourhood characteristics are not typically collected in epidemiological studies. They are however useful in the study of small-area health inequalities. Neighbourhood characteristics are collected in some surveys and could be linked to the data of other studies. We propose to use kriging based on semi-variogram models to predict values at non-observed locations with the aim of constructing bespoke indices of neighbourhood characteristics to be linked to data from epidemiological studies. We perform a simulation study to assess the feasibility of the method as well as a case study using data from the RECORD study. Apart from having enough observed data at small distances to the non-observed locations, a good fitting semi-variogram, a larger range and the absence of nugget effects for the semi-variogram models are factors leading to a higher reliability.