Spatial Pattern Analysis on Dengue Cases in Bangi district, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

Background: Dengue outbreak has proliferated around the developing countries, including Malaysia, in recent decades. Thus, understanding the distribution pattern is essential for urbanization livelihood. Method: The objective of this study is to determine the trend of dengue cases reported from year 2014 to 2018 and the spatial pattern for dengue spread with reference to weather elements in Bangi town. Results: Spatial statistical analyses conducted found that the distribution pattern and spatial mean center for dengue cases was clustered at the east of Bangi region. Directional distribution observed that the elongated polygon of dengue cluster stretched from the northeast to the southwest of Bangi district. Standard distance for dengue cases was the smallest for the year 2014 (0.017 m), and the largest was in the year 2016 (0.019 m), whereas dengue cases in year 2015, 2017, and 2018 were measured at 0.018 m. The average nearest neighbor analysis also observed clustered patterns for dengue cases in Bangi district. Pearson’s correlation analysis found that temperature (r = -0.269) was negatively correlated with dengue cases for year 2014 and 2018; however, rainfall amount (r = 0.286) and rain days (r = 0.250) were positively correlated with dengue cases in year 2018.Conclusions: The three spatial statistical analyses (spatial mean center, standard distance, and directional distribution) findings illustrated that the dengue cases from the year 2014 to 2018 are clustered on the northeast to the southwest of the study region. The rainfall element is found to be a significant positive factor correlated for most study years compared to temperature element.