title: Prostate cancer incidence and tumor severity in Georgia: descriptive epidemiology, racial disparity, and geographic trends.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Limited research has been conducted to describe the geographical clustering and distribution of prostate cancer (PrCA) incidence in Georgia (GA). This study describes and compares the temporal and geographic trends of PrCA incidence in GA with a specific focus on racial disparities.
  
  
  METHODS
  GA Comprehensive Cancer Registry PrCA incidence data were obtained for 1998-2008. Directly standardized age-adjusted PrCA incidence rates per 100,000 were analyzed by race, stage, grade, and county. County-level hotspots of PrCA incidence were analyzed with the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic in a geographic information system; a census tract-level cluster analysis was performed with a Discrete Poisson model and implemented in SaTScan(®) software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant (p < 0.05) hotspots of PrCA incidence were observed in nine southwestern counties and six centrally located counties among men of both races. Six significant (p < 0.1) clusters of PrCA incidence rates were detected for men of both races in north and northwest central Georgia. When stratified by race, clusters among white and black men were similar, although centroids were slightly shifted. Most notably, a large (122 km radius) cluster in northwest central Georgia was detected only in whites, and two smaller clusters (0-32 km radii) were detected in Southwest Georgia only in black men. Clusters of high-grade and late-stage tumors were identified primarily in the northern portion of the state among men of both races.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed a pattern of higher incidence and more advanced disease in northern and northwest central Georgia, highlighting geographic patterns that need more research and investigation of possible environmental determinants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, 101 Buck Road, Health Sciences Campus, Athens, GA 30602, USA. swagner@uga.edu
authors.forename: Sara E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: A Rana
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bayakly
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Vena
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005843:Geography / Q000639:trends; D005845:Georgia / Q000453:epidemiology; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data