Hypertension in AP Vojvodina (Northern Serbia): A spatio-temporal analysis of patients at the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases of Vojvodina

Hypertension is one of the most prevalent cardiovascular diseases globally. This study presents a spatio-temporal analysis of hypertension among patients treated at the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases of Vojvodina between 2000 and 2023. A Mann–Kendall trend analysis was performed at the settlement level using Python to identify trends in hypertension cases. The Getis-Ord Gi* statistic, implemented through the Emerging Hot Spot Analysis (HSA) tool in ArcGIS Pro, was applied to detect spatial clusters of hot and cold spots. The Mann–Kendall analysis identified significant trends in 40 of the 467 settlements in Autonomous Province Vojvodina. Of these, 36 settlements exhibited an increasing trend in hypertension cases, while a decreasing trend was observed in 4 settlements. The Emerging HSA detected 19 clusters classified as “Consecutive Hot Spots” among 316 analysed clusters, with no discernible patterns observed in the remaining clusters. To compare the findings and results from these two analyses, the Kriging method was applied to the z -values of trends from both analyses. The method indicated higher trends in hypertension cases in settlements within South Bačka County. This research identifies areas with significant hypertension trends, helping to pinpoint high-risk regions. The results support further investigation into the causes and guide targeted public health interventions in the study area.