Spatial and temporal variation of mortality and deprivation 2: statistical modelling.

"Building on the tabular analyses exemplified in our first paper and widely used in the medical literature, we use generalised linear models to provide a formal, statistical approach to the analysis of mortality and deprivation relationships, and their change over time. Three types of fixed effects model are specified and estimated with the same ward-level data sets for Wales examined in our first paper. They are: Poisson models for analysing mortality and deprivation at a single cross section in time; repeated-measures Poisson models for analysing mortality-deprivation relations, not only at cross sections in time, but also their changes over time; and logit models focusing on temporal changes in mortality-deprivation relationships. Nonlinear effects of deprivation on mortality have been explored by using dummy variables representing deprivation categories to establish the connection between formal statistical models and the tabular approach" excerpt