Bladder cancer is a significant health issue across the United States of America (USA). Evidence of unequal distribution of a disease or condition's incidence and mortality would suggest that important geographically-defined variables may play a role. In this study, a spatial cluster analysis of bladder cancer mortality identified significant hot spots in some parts of the USA. Regression analysis modelling estimated the effects of selected covariates or risk factors for bladder cancer mortality and also incidence. Spatial heat maps and cluster identification were done for mortality and incidence. The main result was the significant association between bladder cancer mortal-ity and arsenic intake from well water. A similar result was also obtained for cancer incidence and arsenic. Additionally, there are certain geographic areas that appear to have bladder cancer mortality rates beyond the simple association with the studied covariates. These geographic areas warrant further investigation to better under-stand why cancer mortality is unusually high in such geographic areas and to potentially identify additional local concerns or needs to further address bladder cancer mortality in those specific sites.
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Details
Title
A spatial study of bladder cancer mortality and incidence in the contiguous US
Publication Details
Science of the Total Environment, Vol.670, pp.806-813
Resource Type
Journal article
Publisher
Elsevier; Netherlands
Series
670
Copyright
2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Identifiers
WOS:000464681800080; 99380090614306600
Academic Unit
Mathematics and Statistics; Biology; Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering