Analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand, foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive models

Abstract Spatial autocorrelation is an important epidemiological feature of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). However, few studies have included this feature in the regression relationship between HFMD incidence and driving factors to explore its impact on incidence. In this paper, we propose a...

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Main Authors: Huiguo Zhang, Geng Chen, Mengqi Chen, Siang Wang, Zhi Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07936-0
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author Huiguo Zhang
Geng Chen
Mengqi Chen
Siang Wang
Zhi Zhang
author_facet Huiguo Zhang
Geng Chen
Mengqi Chen
Siang Wang
Zhi Zhang
author_sort Huiguo Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Spatial autocorrelation is an important epidemiological feature of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). However, few studies have included this feature in the regression relationship between HFMD incidence and driving factors to explore its impact on incidence. In this paper, we propose a mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive (MGTWAR) model to explore the impact of spatial autocorrelation and meteorological factors on the incidence of HFMD among children in Inner Mongolia, China, in 2016. In addition, we proposed a residual-based bootstrap test to identify the spatial autocorrelation in the incidence of HFMD and the spatiotemporal heterogeneity in regression relationships. The analysis results indicate that simultaneously modeling the spatiotemporal heterogeneity and spatial dependence of the incidence of HFMD can effectively improve the fitting effect of the model in terms of $$R^2$$ . The MGTWAR model, compared with the GTWAR model, can maintain a simpler model structure while achieving a relatively smaller loss in terms of fitting accuracy, thus having better interpretability. The incidence of HFMD among children in neighboring counties in the Inner Mongolia region shows a noteworthy positive spatial autocorrelation characteristic. Furthermore, this spatial autocorrelation exhibits considerable variation across different regions and months. The impacts of air temperature (AT), air pressure (AP), and average wind speed (AW) on the incidence of HFMD have significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity, and relative humidity (RH) has a global positive influence on HFMD incidence. On the whole, the degree of influence of meteorological factors on the incidence of HFMD is in the order of AT > AP > RH > AW, and the influence of spatial dependence of the incidence of HFMD can not be ignored when exploring the driving factors of HFMD incidence and formulating preventive measures.
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spelling doaj-art-126c0cddb6f44569878e14ae02675e3d2025-08-20T03:45:27ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111310.1038/s41598-025-07936-0Analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand, foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive modelsHuiguo Zhang0Geng Chen1Mengqi Chen2Siang Wang3Zhi Zhang4College of Mathematics and System Science, Xinjiang UniversityCollege of Mathematics and System Science, Xinjiang UniversityCollege of Mathematics and System Science, Xinjiang UniversityCollege of Mathematics and System Science, Xinjiang UniversityDepartment of Statistics, School of Mathematics and Statistics, Xi’an Jiaotong UniversityAbstract Spatial autocorrelation is an important epidemiological feature of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). However, few studies have included this feature in the regression relationship between HFMD incidence and driving factors to explore its impact on incidence. In this paper, we propose a mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive (MGTWAR) model to explore the impact of spatial autocorrelation and meteorological factors on the incidence of HFMD among children in Inner Mongolia, China, in 2016. In addition, we proposed a residual-based bootstrap test to identify the spatial autocorrelation in the incidence of HFMD and the spatiotemporal heterogeneity in regression relationships. The analysis results indicate that simultaneously modeling the spatiotemporal heterogeneity and spatial dependence of the incidence of HFMD can effectively improve the fitting effect of the model in terms of $$R^2$$ . The MGTWAR model, compared with the GTWAR model, can maintain a simpler model structure while achieving a relatively smaller loss in terms of fitting accuracy, thus having better interpretability. The incidence of HFMD among children in neighboring counties in the Inner Mongolia region shows a noteworthy positive spatial autocorrelation characteristic. Furthermore, this spatial autocorrelation exhibits considerable variation across different regions and months. The impacts of air temperature (AT), air pressure (AP), and average wind speed (AW) on the incidence of HFMD have significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity, and relative humidity (RH) has a global positive influence on HFMD incidence. On the whole, the degree of influence of meteorological factors on the incidence of HFMD is in the order of AT > AP > RH > AW, and the influence of spatial dependence of the incidence of HFMD can not be ignored when exploring the driving factors of HFMD incidence and formulating preventive measures.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07936-0
spellingShingle Huiguo Zhang
Geng Chen
Mengqi Chen
Siang Wang
Zhi Zhang
Analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand, foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive models
Scientific Reports
title Analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand, foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive models
title_full Analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand, foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive models
title_fullStr Analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand, foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive models
title_full_unstemmed Analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand, foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive models
title_short Analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand, foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive models
title_sort analyzing the spatiotemporal effects of meteorological factors on hand foot and mouth disease using mixed geographically and temporally weighted autoregressive models
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07936-0
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