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. 1998 Sep;88(9):1377-80.
doi: 10.2105/ajph.88.9.1377.

Evaluating cluster alarms: a space-time scan statistic and brain cancer in Los Alamos, New Mexico

M Kulldorff  1 , W F Athas, E J Feurer, B A Miller, C R Key
Affiliations

Evaluating cluster alarms: a space-time scan statistic and brain cancer in Los Alamos, New Mexico

M Kulldorff et al. Am J Public Health. 1998 Sep.

Abstract

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.

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