Point process methods in epidemiology: application to the analysis of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome mortality in urban areas

Abstract

Ethical considerations: due to the characteristics of this observational study based on administrative retrospective data, in Spain this research needs not be approved by an ethics committee because it meets the requirements of the Spanish data protection law, and does not pose ethical problems because the researchers have only had access to anonymous data without any identification of the individuals. The anonymous databases were constructed by authorised staff from the Mortality Register of the Valencian Community for cases, and by authorised staff from the SIP for controls, according Spanish data protection law. The addresses were geocoded in geographic coordinates by the authors. Due to the fact that the databases were anonymous and the large scale of the study area, it was not possible to identify a person from the geocoding process or in the results of this study, thus protecting confidentiality. The Mortality Register and the SIP Register of the Valencian Community are not publicly available and both are subject to statistical confidentiality. However, some institutions like Alicante University are authorised to request and use anonymous databases for research purposes