Effect of latitude on the rate of change in incidence of Lyme disease in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tick-borne illnesses represent an important class of emerging zoonoses, with climate change projected to increase the geographic range within which tick-borne zoonoses might become endemic. We evaluated the impact of latitude on the rate of change in the incidence of Lyme disease in the United States, using publicly available data.

Methods

We estimated state-level year-on-year incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for Lyme disease for the period 1993 to 2007 using Poisson regression methods. We evaluated between-state heterogeneity in IRRs using a random-effects meta-analytic approach. We identified state-level characteristics associated with increasing incidence using random-effects meta-regression.

Results

The incidence of Lyme disease in the US increased by about

SUBMITTER: Tuite AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3985907 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature