Spatio-temporal patterns and emerging trends of cardiovascular diseases in patients treated at the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases of Vojvodina

Cardiovascular diseases represent one of the most dominant categories of non-communicable diseases, with a high prevalence both in Serbia and globally. Understanding their spatial distribution provides valuable insights for public health planning and disease prevention. This study applies geospatial analysis to examine the patterns of CVD among patients treated at the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases of Vojvodina in Serbia, over the period 1995–2023. Beyond identifying spatial clusters, the analysis reveals long-term intensification of CVD burden in the South Bačka urban-suburban zone, indicating a sustained spatial polarization of cardiovascular morbidity over nearly three decades. Mann-Kendall trends per settlement were calculated. The spatial dimension of the research was addressed using the Emerging Hot Spot Analysis to detect statistically significant clusters of high and low values. To further refine the spatial representation of CVD clusters, the Kriging interpolation method was applied. The findings underscore the significance of geospatial methods in pinpointing high-risk areas in cardiovascular diseases, providing an evidence-based foundation for targeted healthcare interventions and resource allocation. Moreover, this study demonstrates the potential of integrating spatial geostatistics with health data to support the development of preventive strategies and to guide future epidemiological research on non-communicable diseases in Serbia and beyond.