Abstract
This paper presents an overview of geostatistical methods available for the analysis of both areal and individual-level health data. The application of Poisson kriging and p-field simulation to lung cancer mortality rates recorded for white males in 688 US counties of the Southeast (1970–1994) allowed: (1) the creation of noise-filtered mortality maps at the county-level and over a fine grid (isopleth maps), (2) the detection of clusters of low or high mortality counties that are significantly correlated in space, and (3) the identification of areas where the local correlation of mortality rates is stronger for white males than for white females, revealing gender-specific factors such as occupational exposure. Then, indicator kriging is introduced as a way to map the risk for late stage breast cancer diagnosis using patient residences across Michigan.
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This research was funded by grant R44-CA132347-01 from the National Cancer Institute. The views stated in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCI.
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Goovaerts, P. (2010). Application of Geostatistics in Cancer Studies. In: Atkinson, P., Lloyd, C. (eds) geoENV VII – Geostatistics for Environmental Applications. Quantitative Geology and Geostatistics, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2322-3_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2322-3_10
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