ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR IN THE SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF HEARING IMPAIRMENTS IN RESIDENTS OF THE CHALYABINSK REGION

Abstract

The goal of the study was a spatial analysis of the morbidity of hearing loss of various types in the adult population of
Chelyabinsk Region and the dependence of the incidence on the environmental issues at the place of residence. The epidemiological issues of the localization of hearing disorders were studied by spatial analysis in the R software environment. The main tasks of the spatial analysis were to produce a visualization, in the form of a point pattern, of the geographical coordinates of the patients’ places of residence, evaluate the properties of the spatial process that generates the point pattern, and test the hypothesis about the influence of the environmental situation on the indicator. The existing division into zones with different environmental situations, in general, does not have a statistically significant (p<0.05) effect on the ratio of the number of patients with hearing loss to the population of the district. However, statistically significant differences (p<0.05) of this indicator were found between areas with a critical and severe environmental situation, as well as between those with a critical and provisionally satisfactory situation. No statistically significant differences were found between the other regions (p>0.05).