Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Oncology (Williston Park). 2011 Nov 15;25(12):1221-5.
The relationship between geography and cancer incidence and treatment is a critical area of health outcomes research. Geographical information systems (GIS) are software packages designed to store and analyze data related to geographic locations. Although more commonly associated with the social sciences and urban planning, the use of GIS software in medical research has been increasing. Moreover, since the 1999 establishment of the Geographical Informational Systems Special Interest Group (GISSIG) at the National Cancer Institute, oncology has been at the forefront of GIS-related health research. In this review, we discuss the potential applications and limitations of GIS software in oncology research. Our aims are to help clinicians and policy makers interpret studies generated using GIS, and to help clinical investigators implement GIS in future research.
地理环境与癌症发病率和治疗之间的关系是卫生结果研究的一个关键领域。地理信息系统（GIS）是专门设计用于存储和分析与地理位置相关数据的软件包。尽管 GIS 软件更常用于社会科学和城市规划，但在医学研究中的使用正在增加。此外，自 1999 年国家癌症研究所（National Cancer Institute）设立地理信息系统特别兴趣小组（Geographical Informational Systems Special Interest Group，GISSIG）以来，肿瘤学一直处于与 GIS 相关的健康研究的前沿。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了 GIS 软件在肿瘤学研究中的潜在应用和局限性。我们的目的是帮助临床医生和政策制定者解释使用 GIS 生成的研究，并帮助临床研究人员在未来的研究中实施 GIS。
