Geospatial Disparities and the Underlying Causes of Major Cancers for Women in Taiwan

Chi-Ting Chiang, Ie-Bin Lian, Ying-Fang Chang and Tsun-Kuo Chang
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Chi-Ting Chiang: Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, No. 195, Section 4, Chung Hsing Road, Chutung, Hsinchu 310, Taiwan
Ie-Bin Lian: Graduate Institute of Statistics and Information Science, National Changhua University of Education, No. 1, Jin-De Road, Changhua 500, Taiwan
Ying-Fang Chang: Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, No. 195, Section 4, Chung Hsing Road, Chutung, Hsinchu 310, Taiwan
Tsun-Kuo Chang: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei City 106, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Some specific types of cancer still pose a severe threat to the health of Taiwanese women. This study focuses on determining the geographical locations of hot spots and causal factors related to the major categories of cancers in Taiwanese women. Cancer mortality data from 1972 to 2001 of 346 townships in Taiwan were obtained from the Atlas of Cancer Mortality. Principal component analysis was conducted to determine the primary categories of female cancers. The spatial patterns of hot spots and cold spots for each major cancer category were identified using the local indicator of spatial association. Finally, the regional differences between the hot spots and cold spots were compared to confirm the possible factors causing cancer throughout Taiwan. A total of 21 cancer types in women were divided into seven major categories, which accounted for 68.0% of the total variance. The results from the spatial autocorrelation analysis showed significant spatial clusters of the cancer categories. Based on the overall consistency of results between this study and those of previous research, this study further identified the high-risk locations and some specific risk factors for major cancer types among Taiwanese women.

Keywords: spatial autocorrelation; geographic information system; principal component analysis; cancer; environmental pollution; Taiwan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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