Computer methods and programs in biomedicine
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Comput Methods Programs Biomed · Oct 2004
Modelling of discrete spatial variation in epidemiology with SAS using GLIMMIX.
SAS provides a macro GLIMMIX, which can be used for modelling of discrete spatial variation in epidemiological studies, where data are aggregated into small areas such as municipalities or postcode sectors. The purpose of these models is primary to examine to what extent unmeasured spatially correlated variables can explain the outcome of interest. ⋯ The code is illustrated by analysing the well-known Scottish lip cancer dataset with GLIMMIX and the results are compared with a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach. The code gives epidemiologists and bio-statisticians an immediate tool for analysing discrete spatial models in a familiar statistical software package.