Wombling Analysis of Childhood Tumor Rates in Florida

Abstract

The Florida Association of Pediatric Tumor Program (FAPTP) is a statewide network charged with the responsibility to monitor and evaluate children’s cancer care in Florida. As part of this responsibility, the FAPTP collects data about the race, gender, age, ZIP code tabulation area of residence, and year of diagnosis for cancer cases across Florida. In accord with the goals of the FAPTP, this article seeks to identify spatial, temporal, and covariate regions of rapid change in the rate of cancer occurrence with the goal of understanding important spatial and demographic factors that determine the occurrence of childhood cancer. Herein, the FAPTP data are modeled as a marked point pattern (process) with an unknown intensity function. By estimating the intensity function from data, regions of high cancer occurrences and boundaries denoting rapid increases (or decreases) in the corresponding cancer rates can be identified. Results indicate that regions of high cancer risk vary with race. Furthermore, younger populations are found to have the highest risk.