Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to assess whether Sydney, Industrial Cape Breton County excluding Sydney (ICBxS) and Cape Breton County (CBCo) residents were at increased risk for cancer compared to Nova Scotia (NS) residents over five-year periods during 1979 through 1997. Gender-stratified, age-standardized cancer incidence rates were calculated following the direct method. All-cause rates were higher for female and male residents of Sydney, ICBxS and CBCo compared to NS based upon both municipality and postal code methods of residence classification. A sensitivity analysis of residential coding yielded a high degree of consistency for all geographies except Sydney, limiting comparisons of Sydney rates with other local geographies except where consistencies were observed. The results of this ecological study support the need for further analysis of factors contributing to the increased risk for cancer in CBCo.
Résumé
Le but principal de cette étude était de déterminer si les habitants de Sydney, du comté industriel du Cap Breton excluant Sydney (CICBxS) et du comté de Cap Breton (CCB), étaient en danger élevé du cancer, comparé aux habitants de la Nouvelle-Écosse (N-É), pendant des périodes de cinq ans de 1979 jusqu’à 1997. Les taux d’incidence du cancer, standardisés selon l’âge et le genre, ont été calculé selon la méthode directe. Les taux de cause étaient plus élevés pour les habitants mâles et femelles de Sydney, CICBxS et CCB comparé à la N-É basé sur les méthodes de code postal et de municipalité pour la classification résidentielle. Une analyse de sensibilité de programmation résidentielle a démontré une forte cohérence pour toutes régions sauf Sydney, limitant la possibilité de comparaison des taux de Sydney avec les autres régions sauf où les cohérences étaient observées. Les résultats de cette étude écologique soutiennent le besoin pour une analyse plus approfondie des facteurs contribuant au risque de cancer élevé dans le CCB.
Footnotes
Source of support: Electric Power Research Institute, Inc., Palo Alto, California, USA (Contract No. WO5305-01).
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