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Construction of a cancer burden score for U.S. counties
Abstract   Peer reviewed

Construction of a cancer burden score for U.S. counties

Christian Dunlap, Anja Zgodic, Gabriel A. Benavidez, Peiyin Hung, Whitney E. Zahnd and Jan M. Eberth
Annals of epidemiology, Vol.75, pp.88-88
11/2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2022.08.007

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Abstract

Purpose: To create a county-level cancer burden score (CBS) comprised of measures encompassing dimensions of the NIH's Cancer Control Continuum framework (i.e., etiology, prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship). Methods: County-level data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's PLACES, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and the NIH State Cancer Profiles was used to develop a list of 27 variables spanning all domains of the Cancer Control Continuum. Variables were transformed using either log or logit functions, centered at their mean, and scaled by their standard deviation. These standardized values for each of the 27 variables were summed together to produce a CBS for each U.S. county, where negative scores represent lower cancer burden. Results: The CBSs ranged between –22.9 (Summit County, Colorado) and 43.8 (Buffalo County, South Dakota). Of the 32 counties in the top 1% highest CBS, 26 are counties in the southeastern region of the U.S. Of the 31 counties in the top 1% lowest CBS, 20 are counties from the northeastern region of the U.S. Conclusions: There are observable geographic disparities in CBS across the U.S. Further work is needed to examine which variables have the largest impact on the developed CBS and whether relationships vary locally. The CBS may be a useful tool for policymakers and other key partners to use when developing cancer initiatives to indicate areas of needed community-level intervention or policy change.

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