A Statistical Approach To Correlating Environmental and Demographic Factors to Cancer Incidences Across U.S. Counties

摘要

This study seeks to identify environmental and demographic factors contributing to cancer incidences, approximately 80% of which are classified as sporadic, across the United States. All data utilized was public, containing a variety of statistics by U.S. county. Through the use of statistical techniques, an average of 20 demographic and chemical factors were found to be strongly associated with increased or decreased cancer rates, across the four different cancer types examined. Even though not all of these factors may be causes, they have strong correlations with the cancer incidence rate, and thus deeper examination of them can reveal the true risk factors. Thus, this study represents a novel way of bringing to light various previously unexamined factors that could be causing cancer incidences and therefore could represent a major step forward in preventative medicine.