Estimation of unemployment rates in small areas of Portugal: a best linear unbiased prediction approach versus a hierarchical Bayes approach

The high level of unemployment is one of the major problems in most European countries nowadays. Hence, the demand for small area labor market statistics has rapidly increased over the past few years. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) conducted by the Portuguese Statistical Office is the main source of official statistics on the labour market at the macro level (e.g. NUTS2 and national level). However, the LFS was not designed to produce reliable statistics at the micro level (e.g. NUTS3, municipalities or further disaggregate level) due to small sample sizes. Consequently, traditional design-based estimators are not appropriate. A solution to this problem is to consider model-based estimators that "borrow information" from related areas or past samples by using auxiliary information. This paper reviews, under the model-based approach, Best Linear Unbiased Predictors and an estimator based on the posterior predictive distribution of a Hierarchical Bayesian model. The goal of this paper is to analyze the possibility to produce accurate unemployment rate statistics at micro level from the Portuguese LFS using these kinds of stimators. This paper discusses the advantages of using each approach and the viability of its implementation.

Report on the retrieval of data for small areas of microcomputers ( REDATAM) National Training Workshop

Through this workshop, database experts from the various ministries and the Central Statistical Office (CSO) were introduced to the CREATE and PROCESS modules of the REDATAM software, which could be used for database creation and analysis of data. This workshop was the second in a series of workshops aimed at promoting human-resource and capacity-building at the national and regional levels in the use of the REDATAM software. It also served as a qualifier for a follow-up workshop on the use of the web-publishing application of the software to be held in 2010.

Trends in Socioeconomic Inequalities in Ischemic Heart Disease Mortality in Small Areas of Nine Spanish Cities from 1996 to 2007 Using Smoothed ANOVA

The aim of this study was to analyze the evolution of socioeconomic inequalities in mortality due to ischemic heart diseases (IHD) in the census tracts of nine Spanish cities between the periods 1996–2001 and 2002–2007. Among women, there are socioeconomic inequalities in IHD mortality in the first period which tended to remain stable or even increase in the second period in most of the cities. Among men, in general, no socioeconomic inequalities have been detected for this cause in either of the periods. These results highlight the importance of intra-urban inequalities in mortality due to IHD and their evolution over time.

Sixteenth census of the United States: 1940. Housing. Supplement to the first series [Data for small areas] Block statistics for cities.

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Cancer mortality inequalities in urban areas: a Bayesian small area analysis in Spanish cities

Intra-urban inequalities in mortality have been infrequently analysed in European contexts. The aim of the present study was to analyse patterns of cancer mortality and their relationship with socioeconomic deprivation in small areas in 11 Spanish cities

Cancer mortality inequalities in urban areas: a Bayesian small area analysis in Spanish cities

Background: Intra-urban inequalities in mortality have been infrequently analysed in European contexts. The aim of the present study was to analyse patterns of cancer mortality and their relationship with socioeconomic deprivation in small areas in 11 Spanish cities. Methods: It is a cross-sectional ecological design using mortality data (years 1996-2003). Units of analysis were the census tracts. A deprivation index was calculated for each census tract. In order to control the variability in estimating the risk of dying we used Bayesian models. We present the RR of the census tract with the highest deprivation vs. the census tract with the lowest deprivation. Results: In the case of men, socioeconomic inequalities are observed in total cancer mortality in all cities, except in Castellon, Cordoba and Vigo, while Barcelona (RR = 1.53 95%CI 1.42-1.67), Madrid (RR = 1.57 95%CI 1.49-1.65) and Seville (RR = 1.53 95%CI 1.36-1.74) present the greatest inequalities. In general Barcelona and Madrid, present inequalities for most types of cancer. Among women for total cancer mortality, inequalities have only been found in Barcelona and Zaragoza. The excess number of cancer deaths due to socioeconomic deprivation was 16,413 for men and 1,142 for women. Conclusion: This study has analysed inequalities in cancer mortality in small areas of cities in Spain, not only relating this mortality with socioeconomic deprivation, but also calculating the excess mortality which may be attributed to such deprivation. This knowledge is particularly useful to determine which geographical areas in each city need intersectorial policies in order to promote a healthy environment.

Ichthyofauna of the Selvagens Islands. Do small coastal areas show high species richness in the northeastern Atlantic?

The Selvagens Islands are located in the northeastern Atlantic between the Canary Islands and Madeira Island. As a result of their small size, remote location and harsh sea conditions only a few studies have been conducted to describe their marine species diversity. We were able to identify 29 new coastal fish species, an increase of 33% in the ichthyofauna described for these islands (n = 88). There is a prevalence of species with tropical affinities and only 2.3% (n = 2) are endemic to Macaronesia. Considered a stepping-stone colonization vector from the nearest continental shore, as proposed by other authors for this region, the Selvagens Islands host 34.1% of the ichthyofauna described for the much larger Canary Islands (nspecies = 258, submerged area nSelvagensIs. = 2.3%) and 47.3% of the ichthyofauna described for the more distantly located Madeira Island (nspecies = 186, submerged area nSelvagensIs. = 17.9%). Interestingly, 6.8% (n = 6) of the species failed to bridge the gap between the Selvagens Islands and Madeira Island. Data collected so far showed no trend toward an increasing number of species with high dispersal capability. The Selvagens Islands are an example of a high coastal species diversity occurring even in very small areas of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

A metastatic neuroendocrine anaplastic small cell tumor in a patient with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 syndrome : assessment of disease status and response to doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, etoposide chemotherapy through scintigraphic imaging with 111In-pentetreotide

Extrapulmonary small cell and small cell neuroendocrine tumors of unknown primary site are, in general, aggressive neoplasms with a short median survival. Like small cell lung cancer (SCLC), they often are responsive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Small cell lung cancer and well differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas tend to express somatostatin receptors. These tumors may be localized in patients by scintigraphic imaging using radiolabeled somatostatin analogues. A patient with an anaplastic neuroendocrine small cell tumor arising on a background of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 syndrome is reported. The patient had a known large pancreatic gastrinoma and previously treated parathyroid adenopathy. At presentation, there was small cell cancer throughout the liver and skeleton. Imaging with a radiolabeled somatostatin analogue, 111In- pentetreotide (Mallinckrodt Medical B. V., Petten, Holland), revealed all sites of disease detected by routine biochemical and radiologic methods. After six cycles of chemotherapy with doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and etoposide, there was almost complete clearance of the metastatic disease. 111In-pentetreotide scintigraphy revealed uptake consistent with small areas of residual disease in the liver, the abdomen (in mesenteric lymph nodes), and posterior thorax (in a rib). The primary gastrinoma present before the onset of the anaplastic small cell cancer showed no evidence of response to the treatment. The patient remained well for 1 year and then relapsed with brain, lung, liver, and skeletal metastases. Despite an initial response to salvage radiotherapy and chemotherapy with carboplatin and dacarbazine, the patient died 6 months later.

Selective migration from deprived areas in Northern Ireland and the spatial distribution of inequalities: implications for monitoring health and inequalities in health

Much of the evidence suggesting that inequalities in health have been increasing over the last two decades has come from studies that compared the changes in relative health status of areas over time. Such studies ignore the movement of people between areas. This paper examines the population movement between small areas in Northern Ireland in the year prior to the 1991 census as well as the geographical distribution of migrants to Northern Ireland over the same period. It shows that deprived areas tended to become depopulated and that those who left these areas were the more affluent residents. While immigrants differed a little from the indigenous population, the overall effect of their distribution would be to maintain the geographical socio-economic status quo. The selective movement of people between areas would result in the distribution of health and ill-health becoming more polarized, i.e. produce a picture of widening inequalities between areas even though the distribution between individuals is unchanged. These processes suggest potential significant problems with the area-based approaches to monitoring health and inequalities in health.

Small area estimation for the price of habitation transaction: comparison of different uncertainty measures of temporal EBLUP

Local level planning requires statistics for small areas, but normally due to cost or logistic constraints, sample surveys are often planned to provide reliable estimates only for large geographical regions and large subgroups of a population.

A framework for progressively improving small area population estimates

The paper presents a framework for small area population estimation that enables users to select a method that is fit for the purpose. The adjustments to input data that are needed before use are outlined, with emphasis on developing consistent time series of inputs. We show how geographical harmonization of small areas, which is crucial to comparisons over time, can be achieved. For two study regions, the East of England and Yorkshire and the Humber, the differences in output and consequences of adopting different methods are illustrated. The paper concludes with a discussion of how data, on stream since 1998, might be included in future small area estimates.

A multilevel study of area socio-economic status and food purchasing behaviour

Objective: This study examined the association between area socioeconomic status (SES) and food purchasing behaviour.----- Setting: Melbourne city, Australia, 2003.----- Participants: Residents of 2,564 households located in 50 small areas.----- Design: Data were collected by mail survey (64.2% response rate). Area SES was indicated by the proportion of households in each area earning less than Aus$400 per week, and individual-level socioeconomic position was measured using education, occupation, and household income. Food purchasing was measured on the basis of compliance with dietary guideline recommendations (for grocery foods) and variety of fruit and vegetable purchase. Multilevel regression examined the association between area SES and food purchase after adjustment for individual-level demographic (age, sex, household composition) and socioeconomic factors.----- Results: Residents of low SES areas were significantly less likely than their counterparts in advantaged areas to purchase grocery foods that were high in fibre and low in fat, salt, and sugar; and they purchased a smaller variety of fruits. There was no evidence of an association between area SES and vegetable variety.----- Conclusions In Melbourne, area SES was associated with some food purchasing behaviours independent of individual-level factors, suggesting that areas in this city may be differentiated on the basis of food availability, accessibility, and affordability, making the purchase of some types of foods more difficult in disadvantaged areas.