Cluster Analysis of Candida Infections Evolution in Urban and Rural Areas in Romania

Abstract

Candida infections are some of the most common fungal infections, which are generally found in persons with weakened or compromised immune systems. In the first part of this paper is analyzed statistically and epidemiologically the spread in the urban and rural environment, in Romania, of Candida infections, these producing great problems especially to the people included in the risk groups. The data collected from Romania from 2008-2014 were investigated. The estimates were made by years, by categories of urban / rural areas, but also by expressing the results as persons (cases) per 100,000 inhabitants, to estimate the real incidence of such infections in Romania. The statistical analysis was performed with the well-defined purpose of observing in which of the environments of origin of the patients (urban or rural) predominate the infections like Candida. The period chosen for the study, although not recent, does not influence the conclusions of the analysis, as the living conditions of the population in urban and rural areas have not evolved significantly in recent years in Romania. In the second part of the paper, through the cluster analysis, the differences between the spread of Candida infections from the above mentioned period were analyzed, in the urban and rural areas, using common criteria. Cluster analysis is a multivariate analysis method, which includes algorithms capable of effectively identifying and grouping, in a given set of objects, similar groups in terms of common properties. The analysis was performed using Excel and Matlab software.