A cancer cluster is a disease cluster in which a high number of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

cases occurs in a group of people in a particular geographic area over a limited period of time.Cancer Cluster FAQ
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects. Historical examples of work-related cancer clusters are well documented in the medical literature. Notable examples include: scrotal cancer among chimney sweeps in 18th century

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

; osteosarcoma among female watch dial painters in the 20th century;

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BC ...

in farmers;

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become ma ...

in dye workers exposed to

aniline Aniline is an organic compound with the formula C6 H5 NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an industrially significant commodity chemical, as well as a versatile start ...

compounds; and

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

and

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enl ...

in chemical workers exposed to

benzene Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen ato ...

.Cancer Facts
. National Cancer Institute. U.S. National Institutes of Health. Cancer cluster suspicions usually arise when members of the general public report that their family members, friends, neighbors, or coworkers have been diagnosed with the same or related cancers. State or local health departments will investigate the possibility of a cancer cluster when a claim is filed. In order to justify investigating such claims, health departments conduct a preliminary review. Data will be collected and verified regarding: the types of cancer reported, numbers of cases, geographic area of the cases, and the patients clinical history. At this point, a committee of medical professionals will examine the data and determine whether or not an investigation (often lengthy and expensive) is justified. In the U.S., state and local health departments respond to more than 1,000 inquiries about suspected cancer clusters each year. It is possible that a suspected cancer cluster may be due to chance alone; however, only clusters that have a disease rate that is statistically significantly greater than the disease rate of the general population are investigated. Given the number of inquiries it is likely that many of these are due to chance alone. It is a well-known problem in interpreting data that random cases of cancer can appear to form clumps that are misinterpreted as a cluster. A cluster is less likely to be coincidental if the case consists of one type of cancer, a rare type of cancer, or a type of cancer that is not usually found in a certain age group. Between 5% to 15% of suspected cancer clusters are statistically significant.

Examples

Some of the larger or more well known cancer clusters include: * At least 700 cases of clear cell carcinoma caused by the prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol in the US in the mid-1900s. * The Camp Lejeune water contamination incident in which multiple chemicals were found in drinking water. The CDC found that marines stationed at the base had a 10% higher rate of cancer deaths than those stationed elsewhere.

References

External links

Pub Med - latest standards for evaluating cancer clusters

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

{{Portal bar, Medicine Spatial epidemiology Medical statistics

Examples

See also

References

External links