Spatio-temporal clustering of the incidence of schizophrenia in Quebec, Canada from 2004 to 2007

Exploring spatio-temporal patterns of disease incidence can help to identify areas of significantly elevated or decreased risk, providing potential etiologic clues. In this study, we present a spatio-temporal analysis of the incidence of schizophrenia in Quebec from 2004 to 2007 using administrative databases from the Régie de l'Assurance Maladie du Quebec and the hospital discharge database. We conducted purely spatial analyses for each age group adjusted by sex for the whole period using SatScan (version 9.1.1). Findings from the study indicated variations in the spatial clustering of schizophrenia according to sex and age. In term of incidence rate, there are high differences between urban and rural-remote areas, as well as between the two main metropolitan areas of the province of Quebec (Island of Montreal and Quebec-City).