What challenges regarding suspected cancer clusters do investigators face?
Cancer cluster investigations are complex and difficult for several reasons. Although any cancer case is one too many, suspected cancer clusters often do not contain enough cases for investigators to do a meaningful statistical analysis or reach a conclusion. Investigators must choose the appropriate comparison population and decide how to handle cases that move in or out of the area. Determining the cause of cancer is complicated because exposure to cancer-causing agents may have occurred many years before diagnosis. Therefore, assessing the amount and type of cancer-causing agents an individual has been exposed to is difficult. Unfortunately, cancer is often the result of a combination of agents and risk factors that interact in a way that science does not yet fully understand.
