Analyzing the relationships between standardized mortality ratio and health indicators using linked micromap plots

The standardized mortality ratio and the general health status are the most commonly used indicators in health studies. They are influenced by a number of determinants including health behaviors, socioeconomic factors and access to health care. In this paper, we describe how spatial patterns of the standardized mortality ratio and the health indicators can be examined visually and simultaneously using linked micromap plots. To explore the potential for utilization of linked micromap plots, we analyze and visualize the health data including mortality statistics, resident registration population and community health indicators for the last three years (2010 ∼ 2012) of South Korea. As a result of data analysis, the standardized mortality ratio is more influenced by socioeconomic factors than health behaviors. In addition, we can explore the geographic patterns in the data by using linked micromap plots that are often lost with other types of graphs and data analysis.