A causal inference framework for cancer cluster investigations using publicly available data.

ABSTRACT: Often, a community becomes alarmed when high rates of cancer are noticed, and residents suspect that the cancer cases could be caused by a known source of hazard. In response, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that departments of health perform a standardized incidence ratio (SIR) analysis to determine whether the observed cancer incidence is higher than expected. This approach has several limitations that are well documented in the existing literature. In this paper we propose a novel causal inference framework for cancer cluster investigations, rooted in the potential outcomes framework. Assuming that a source of hazard representing a potential cause of increased cancer rates in the community is identified a priori, we focus our approach on a causal inference es

SUBMITTER: Nethery RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8276584 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature