ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To (i) demonstrate the utility of geographically weighted Poisson regression (GWPR) in describing geographical patterns of adult cochlear implant (CI) incidence in relation to sociodemographic factors in a publicly funded healthcare system, and (ii) compare Poisson regression and GWPR to fit the aforementioned relationship. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study of provincial CI Program database. SETTING: Academic hospital. PATIENTS: Adults 18 years or older who received a CI from 2020 to 2021. INTERVENTIONS: Cochlear implant. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: CI incidence based on income level, education attainment, age at implantation, and distance from center, and spatial autocorrelation across census metropolitan areas. RESULTS: Adult CI incidence varied spatially across Ontario (Moran's I = 0.04, p < 0.05). Poisson regression demonstrated positive associations between implantation and lower income level (coefficient = 0.0284, p < 0.05) and younger age (coefficient = 0.1075, p < 0.01), and a negative association with distance to CI center (coefficient = -0.0060, p < 0.01). Spatial autocorrelation was significant in Poisson model (Moran's I = 0.13, p < 0.05). GWPR accounted for spatial differences (Moran's I = 0.24, p < 0.690), and similar associations to Poisson were observed. GWPR further identified clusters of implantation in South Central census metropolitan areas with higher education attainment. CONCLUSIONS: Adult CI incidence demonstrated a nonstationary relationship between implantation and the studied sociodemographic factors. GWPR performed better than Poisson regression in accounting for these local spatial variations. These results support the development of targeted interventions to improve access and utilization to CIs in a publicly funded healthcare system.
