Rumslig utbredning av tuberkulos : Stockholms kommun år 2002-2011

• Main Author: Stråth, Alexandra
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för naturgeografi och kvartärgeologi (INK) 2012
• Subjects: tuberculosis; Stockholm municipality; spatial distribution; drift; incidence; socio-economics
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-78731

This bachelor thesis is written as a part of the geography program at Stockholm University, Sweden, and the study was conducted from April to June 2012. Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne disease and one of the most widespread infectious diseases in the world with more than nine million new cases each year (SMI 2012, digital source). The disease is a major source of death and suffering in many places and the number of deaths remains high despite the availability of highly efficacious treatment. To control and prevent further spread of TB, the mapping of the disease spatial distribution is of essential importance. In this study, maps were produced that shows the spatial distribution of TB between the years 2002 to 2011 in the municipality of Stockholm. These maps allow an analysis of the spatial distribution at a local scale over time. The aim of this paper is to study how the spatial distribution of TB has looked like in the municipality of Stockholm the last 10 years and to analyze why the spatial distribution of the disease looked like it did. This study is based on the hypothesis “drift”. The hypothesis imply that individuals with certain conditions for a particular state of health or disease is passed (drift) to a certain location or become concentrated there through various social processes. The processes would therefore lead to fact that specific qualities or health attributes become more common in certain geographical places than others (Schæerström et al, 2011:110). The maps of the disease prevalence between the years 2002-2011 illustrates that TB was more concentrated in specific geographical areas of the municipality of Stockholm. The result of the analyzed factors in the different neighborhood areas in 2002, 2006 and 2010 reveals that there are individuals with certain socio-economic conditions which are largely concentrated in the areas mentioned above. The results provide a basis for an assumption that the cause of the spatial distribution of TB during the studied period largely depends on what the drift hypothesis implies. Drift is therefore a likely contributing factor to the fact that particular characteristics and health manifestations were more common in certain geographical places than others in the municipality of Stockholm between the years 2002-2011.