Epidemiological landscapes in the Amazon: exploring the association between land use, environmental indicators, and vector-borne diseasesAbstract:
This study investigates the characteristics of municipalities in the Legal Amazon that may be associated with the incidence of vector-borne diseases using environmental and land use indicators and cluster analysis. We identified and described six groups of Amazonian municipalities with similar environmental and agrarian characteristics. Based on a set of epidemiological indicators, we explore the incidence of neglected vector-borne tropical diseases in these groups. Results show a great environmental heterogeneity in the Amazonian municipalities, with well-defined profiles in the obtained groups. Moreover, they show the relation of economic activities and environmental degradation with the spread of diseases. This approach can comprehensively show the environmental and health challenges of regions, contributing to the development of more effective conservation strategies to be adapted to the specific needs of each municipality profile.
Keywords:
Environmental Indicators; Amazonian Ecosystem; Diseases Vectors
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Note: the colors indicate the groups obtained from the k-means cluster analysis.
Note: the values indicate the mean of each indicator for each group. To improve the visualization of the results in this graph, we applied logarithmic transformation followed by scaling between 0 and 1 (using the min-max method) on the original variables.
Note: the axes increase quadratically to improve the visibility of the differences. The upper and lower limits correspond to the first and third quartiles, and the line inside the box represents the median. The data beyond the end of the limits are outliers and plotted as points.
OR: odds ratio. Note: the bar indicates the chance ratio of occurrence of the case in the cluster compared to cluster 3 (higher ecological integrity). The description of the groups is in 
Note: the axes increase quadratically to improve the visibility of the differences. The upper and lower limits correspond to the first and third quartiles, and the line inside the box represents the median. The data beyond the end of the limits are outliers and plotted as points.