Hollinger Dawn, Nagarajan Sumitha, Ng Diane, Ross Wilhelmina, Little Hayley, Arthur Helen
Bureau Chief, Cancer Prevention and Control, Division of Public Health, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.
Cancer Epidemiologist, Cancer Prevention and Control Bureau, Division of Public Health, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.
Dela J Public Health. 2024 Aug 28;10(3):26-29. doi: 10.32481/djph.2024.08.08. eCollection 2024 Aug.
To describe the Delaware Cancer Registry (DCR)'s participation in the National Cancer Institute (NCI)/North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) Zone Design Project to create sub-county geographic areas ("zones") for use in cancer reporting and geospatial analysis.
DCR and other stakeholders reviewed up to ten unique zone configurations for each of Delaware's three counties. The zone configurations were created using AZTool and were set to optimize three objectives: create zones that have a minimum and target population of 50,000; are homogenous based on the variables of percent minority, percent below poverty, and percent urban; and are as compact as possible. The DCR sent a survey to stakeholders to provide input on their preferred zone configuration for each county. Following the final selection of zones, the DCR utilized the geographies for calculating overall and late-stage breast cancer incidence statistics and created choropleth maps to visualize the rates by quintiles.
The final selections resulted in a total of 15 zones for Delaware, with three in Kent County, nine in New Castle County, and three in Sussex County. The zones ranged in population size from 54,013 to 67,693 people. Zones with higher late-stage breast cancer incidence rates included those near the areas of Wilmington, Middletown, and between Milford and Georgetown. Comparing results of overall breast cancer incidence rates by zone with late-stage rates by zone, there were areas that had lower relative overall breast cancer incidence rates but were relatively higher for late-stage rates by zones or vice versa.
Aggregating census tracts into zones allows for reporting reliable cancer rates at sub-county levels, which is instrumental in conveying meaningful information about regional cancer trends to stakeholders and the public. Delaware will be able to utilize zone-level cancer information to provide targeted interventions and outreach initiatives.
描述特拉华癌症登记处（DCR）参与美国国立癌症研究所（NCI）/北美中央癌症登记协会（NAACCR）区域设计项目，以创建用于癌症报告和地理空间分析的次县级地理区域（“区域”）。
DCR和其他利益相关者审查了特拉华州三个县各自多达十种独特的区域配置。这些区域配置是使用AZTool创建的，旨在优化三个目标：创建人口最少为50,000且目标人口为50,000的区域；根据少数族裔百分比、贫困线以下百分比和城市百分比等变量保持同质化；并且尽可能紧凑。DCR向利益相关者发送了一份调查问卷，以获取他们对每个县首选区域配置的意见。在最终选定区域后，DCR利用这些地理区域来计算总体和晚期乳腺癌发病率统计数据，并创建分级统计图以按五分位数直观显示发病率。
最终选定的区域为特拉华州总共产生了15个区域，肯特县有3个，纽卡斯尔县有9个，苏塞克斯县有3个。这些区域的人口规模从54,013人到67,693人不等。晚期乳腺癌发病率较高的区域包括威尔明顿、米德尔敦附近以及米尔福德和乔治敦之间的地区。将各区域的总体乳腺癌发病率结果与晚期发病率结果进行比较，有些区域的总体乳腺癌相对发病率较低，但晚期发病率相对较高，反之亦然。
将人口普查区汇总为区域有助于在次县级层面报告可靠的癌症发病率，这有助于向利益相关者和公众传达有关区域癌症趋势的有意义信息。特拉华州将能够利用区域层面的癌症信息来提供有针对性的干预措施和外展活动。
