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Spatial-Temporal Cluster Analysis of Childhood Cancer in California
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3 2020
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Source: Epidemiology. 31(2):214-223
[PDF-2.29 MB]
Details:
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Alternative Title:Epidemiology
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Personal Author:
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Description:Background:
The observance of non-random space–time groupings of childhood cancer has been a concern of health professionals and the general public for decades. Many childhood cancers are suspected to have initiated in utero; therefore, we examined the spatial–temporal randomness of the birthplace of children who later developed cancer.
Methods:
We performed a space–time cluster analysis using birth addresses of 5,896 cases and 23,369 population-based, age-, sex- and race/ethnicity-matched controls in California from 1997–2007, evaluating 20 types of childhood cancer and three a priori designated subgroups of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We analyzed data using a newly designed semiparametric analysis program, ClustR, and a common algorithm, SaTScan.
Results:
We observed evidence for non-random space–time clustering for ALL diagnosed at 2–6 years of age in the South San Francisco Bay Area (ClustR p=0.04, SaTScan p=0.07), and malignant gonadal germ cell tumors in a region of Los Angeles (ClustR p=0.03, SaTScan p=0.06). ClustR did not identify evidence of clustering for other childhood cancers, though SaTScan suggested some clustering for Hodgkin lymphoma (p=0.09), astrocytoma (p=0.06) and retinoblastoma (p=0.06).
Conclusion:
Our study provides evidence that childhood ALL diagnosed at 2–6 years and malignant gonadal germ cell tumors sporadically occurs in non-random space–time clusters. Further research is warranted to identify epidemiologic features that may inform the underlying etiology.
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Pubmed ID:31596791
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Pubmed Central ID:PMC9005107
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Volume:31
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Issue:2
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