Regional differences in healthcare have been mapped time and again during the recent rise of online data-visualisation, but this effort, from the folks at AdAge, presents a new approach.
The infographic shows which disease is most prevalent within the population of each US county, and also highlights the socioeconomic status of each region, as defined by the Patchwork Nation project.
If you would like to browse a larger, interactive version of the map, you can find the original here.
The visualisation was produced by plotting data from 25,000 US household survey responses against Patchwork Nation's 'community types', showing both the geographical and and socioeconomic distribution of different diseases.
Clear regional patterns are immediately visible, such as the prominence of muscular degeneration across the south-west and the emergence of Restless Legs Syndrome as the dominant affliction in the north-east.
Patchwork Nation, around which this map is designed, is a project funded by the Jefferson Institute that aims to explore America's regional socioeconomic idiosyncrasies.
The initiative seeks to go beyond typical red/blue American politics and assigns each US county one of twelve 'community types', each based on various characteristics including income level, labour market statistics and racial composition.
Housing stock, employment type and expenditure patterns are also incorporated into the classification process, and the labels given to different communities include "Tractor Country", "Monied 'Burbs" and "Emptying Nests".
For more information on its methodology, click here.
Patchwork Nation provides an interesting new backdrop to plot data against - see what you can do with it and link to any examples below.
• Who made this graphic? Matt Carmichael and Charlie Moran
• Where can I find it? adage.com
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