I wished to investigate the relationship between the levels of deprivation in lower super output areas (LSOAs) in Southampton and the number of cases of non-specific gastrointestinal infections. To do this I utilised spatial models to make inferences about risk factors and areas of increased risk. I begin with exploratory analysis, followed by K-function analysis, intensity estimation, and fitting Poisson generalised additive models (GAMs), and finally I fit both non-spatial and spatial extra Poisson variation models. My analysis suggests that the Index of Multiple Deprivation is not a good explanatory variable for the risk of GI infections, but a subset of its domains may be better. There is, however, still a lot of unexplained spatial variation present in the models, which suggests there are other variables which I have not considered which may play a big role in the risk associated with GI infections. Finally, I suggest some ways in which the models can be improved, such as including more variables that could be risk factors, using individual level data, or adding a temporal component as well as spatial component.

This project formed part of my Masters in Statistics.