Commentary: Assessment of chance should be central in investigation of cancer clusters

Abstract

As a biostatistician who has considerable experience investigating both fixed putative source clusters and general cluster alarms, and developing methodology for these analyses, I feel I should respond to the various points raised by Coory and Jordan. I believe the authors provide a very narrow view of cluster assessment, characterizing it as testing for an excess of incident cases in a given area. A much broader view has developed over the last two decades, as described below. © The Author 2013; all rights reserved.