Análisis de conglomerados de cáncer. El caso del barrio de Campdorà, Girona / Cancer Cluster Analysis. the Case of the Campdorà District in Girona, Spain

Un conglomerado de casos puede definirse como la aparición deun número de casos de una enfermedad en una cantidad superior a laque se esperaría para un determinado grupo de población, un áreageográfica y un período de tiempo determinado. En el caso del cáncerel estudio de conglomerados presenta una serie de característicasespecíficas respecto a otras agrupaciones de enfermedades. El objetivode este trabajo es proponer un protocolo que permita desarrollarel estudio de conglomerados de cáncer en el tiempo y/o en el espacio.Ilustramos la nota con una aplicación práctica en el caso del barrio deCampdorà, Girona. Tras proponer un protocolo para el estudio deconglomerados, describimos varios instrumentos estadísticos quepermiten contrastar la existencia de agrupaciones temporales, asícomo el riesgo asociado. Durante el período considerado, 1994-2002, no pareció haber ocurrido de forma estadísticamente significativa,un exceso de casos de cáncer en el barrio de Campdorà de Girona

A conglomerate of cases may be defined as the onset of a numberof cases of a disease larger than would be expected for a certainpopulation group, geographical area or a certain timeframe. In thecase of cancer, the study of conglomerates entails a number of specificcharacteristics as compared to other groups of diseases. Thiswork is aimed at proposing a protocol affording the possibility ofconducting the study of cancer conglomerates in time and/or space.This article is illustrated with a practical application in the case ofthe Campdorà District in Girona. Following a proposed protocolfor the study of conglomerates, a description is provided of severalstatistical tools making it possible to draw a comparison among theexistence of time-related groupings, as well as the related risk.During the period studied (1994-2002), no excessive statisticallysignificant number of cancer cases seemed to have occurred inthe Campdorà District in Girona

[Cancer cluster analysis. The case of the Campdorà District in Girona, Spain]. / Análisis de conglomerados de cancer. El caso del barrio de Campdorà, Girona.

A conglomerate of cases may be defined as the onset of a number of cases of a disease larger than would be expected for a certain population group, geographical area or a certain timeframe. In the case of cancer, the study of conglomerates entails a number of specific characteristics as compared to other groups of diseases. This work is aimed at proposing a protocol affording the possibility of conducting the study of cancer conglomerates in time and/or space. This article is illustrated with a practical application in the case of the Campdorà District in Girona. Following a proposed protocol for the study of conglomerates, a description is provided of several statistical tools making it possible to draw a comparison among the existence of time-related groupings, as well as the related risk. During the period studied (1994-2002), no excessive statistically significant number of cancer cases seemed to have occurred in the Campdorà District in Girona.