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Evaluating cluster alarms: a space-time scan statistic and brain cancer in Los Alamos, New Mexico
M Kulldorff1, W F Athas, E J Feurer
1Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md 20892-7368, USA.
Objectives:
This article presents a space-time scan statistic, useful for evaluating space-time cluster alarms, and illustrates the method on a recent brain cancer cluster alarms in Los Alamos, NM.
Methods:
The space-time scan statistic accounts for the preselection bias and multiple testing inherent in a cluster alarm. Confounders and time trends can be adjusted for.
Results:
The observed excess of brain cancer in Los Alamos was not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
The space-time scan statistic is useful as a screening tool for evaluating which cluster alarms merit further investigation and which clusters are probably chance occurrences.