Investigating local relationships between trace elements in soils and cancer data

McKinley, Jennifer M.; Ofterdinger, Ulrich; Young, Michael; Barsby, Amy; Gavin, Anna. 2013 Investigating local relationships between trace elements in soils and cancer data. Spatial Statistics, 5. 25-41. 10.1016/j.spasta.2013.05.001

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.spasta.2013.05.001

Abstract/Summary

Medical geology research has recognised a number of potentially toxic elements (PTEs), such as arsenic, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, vanadium, uranium and zinc, known to influence human disease by their respective deficiency or toxicity. As the impact of infectious diseases has decreased and the population ages, so cancer has become the most common cause of death in developed countries including Northern Ireland. This research explores the relationship between environmental exposure to PTEs in soil and cancer disease data across Northern Ireland. The incidence of twelve different cancer types (lung, stomach, leukaemia, oesophagus, colorectal, bladder, kidney, breast, mesothelioma, melanoma and non melanoma (NM) both basal and squamous, were examined in the form of twenty-five coded datasets comprising aggregates over the 12 year period from 1993 to 2006. A local modelling technique, geographically weighted regression (GWR) is used to explore the relationship between environmental exposure and cancer disease data. The results show comparisons of the geographical incidence of certain cancers (stomach and NM squamous skin cancer) in relation to concentrations of certain PTEs (arsenic levels in soils and radon were identified). Findings from the research have implications for regional human health risk assessments.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1016/j.spasta.2013.05.001
Additional Keywords:	Tellus, geochemistry, Northern Ireland, Cancer disease data, Soil geochemistry, Radon, Geographically weighted regression, Geostatistics, Arsenic
NORA Subject Terms:	Earth Sciences Health Data and Information
Date made live:	29 Jul 2013 14:15 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502768

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1016/j.spasta.2013.05.001

Additional Keywords:

Tellus, geochemistry, Northern Ireland, Cancer disease data, Soil geochemistry, Radon, Geographically weighted regression, Geostatistics, Arsenic

NORA Subject Terms:

Earth Sciences
Health
Data and Information

Date made live:

29 Jul 2013 14:15 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502768