Article Preview
TopIntroduction
Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the USA, exceeded only by heart disease, and accounts for nearly one of every four deaths (Mobley & Kuo, 2016). Breast cancer, to be more specific, is a major health issue in all countries affecting thousands of women (Tazzite et al., 2013; Dube & Gupta, 2015). So far, its causes are unknown and the national and international strategies to reduce its morbidity and mortality levels are based on early detection of cancer through screening and treatment according to clinical guidelines. Thus, knowledge of which women are at risk and why they are at risk is therefore essential component of disease prevention and screening. In 2015, an estimated 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the United States, along with 60,290 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer (Siegel et al., 2015). However, all locations are not equal for breast cancer risk and thus support a major role of the geography in breast carcinogenesis (Akram & Nanna, 2003).
The purpose of this work is to provide a more detailed analysis of the breast cancer distribution in the United States by comparing the spatial distribution of breast cancer cases against physical environmental factors using Geographic Information System (GIS) (Figure 1). Further, it gives background information to the GIS and its applications in health-related research.