A Comparative Analysis of Cancer Rates for Indiana's 10 Public Health Districts

BACKGROUND: To tackle incidence and mortality rates of the state’s highest burden cancers in Indiana’s Public Health Districts (PHD), district level cancer coalitions have organized to discuss ways to improve cancer rates in their communities. While district level data are readily available via the Indiana State Cancer Registry’s Data Generator, a geographic comparative analysis is not. In addition, inclusion of county level data in the online data generator cannot occur as many have numbers too small for reporting or calculating stable rates. Growing interest in establishing local-level coalitions increased the need for district-level and county-level incidence and mortality data for the top four cancer sites: lung and bronchus, female breast, colon and rectum and prostate.

METHODS:   The project considered each PHD individually and comparatively with the other nine districts as well as to Indiana as a whole. Use of Canstat, an internal graphical user interface, facilitated extraction of data from the cancer registry. Confidence interval comparisons determined significant differences between rates.

RESULTS:   Significant differences between cancer incidence and mortality rates were found for counties within districts and districts as a whole when compared to Indiana. The results provide a backdrop to guide the cancer control planning efforts of not only governmental entities and district coalitions but also non-profit health agencies that serve the communities within each district.

CONCLUSIONS:   The results can be used to support cancer risk factor modifications aimed toward high risk populations at a local level. In addition, the results open up the possibility of providing to the state legislature, targeted information in regards to cancer rates among their constituents.  This enhances their ability to have a deeper understanding of Indiana’s cancer incidence and mortality rates.