Work

Evaluating cluster alarms: a space-time scan statistic and brain cancer in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Year: 1998

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: This article presents a space-time scan statistic, useful for evaluating space-time cluster alarms, and illustrates the method on a recent brain cancer cluster alarms in Los Alamos, NM. METHODS: The space-time scan statistic accounts for the preselection bias and multiple testing inherent in a cluster alarm. Confounders and time trends can be adjusted for. RESULTS: The observed excess of brain cancer in Los Alamos was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The space-time scan statistic is useful as a screening tool for evaluating which cluster alarms merit further investigation and which clusters are probably chance occurrences.

Source: American Journal of Public Health

DOI: 10.2105/ajph.88.9.1377

Authors: M Kulldorff, W F Athas, E J Feurer, B A Miller, C R Key

Institution: National Cancer Institute

Language: English

Topic: Data-Driven Disease Surveillance

Subfield: Epidemiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research