title: Analysis of the relationships between esophageal cancer cases and climatic factors using a Geographic Information System (GIS): a case study of Ardabil province in Iran.
abstract: Esophageal cancer is a mjaor health problems in many parts of the world. A geographical information system (GIS) allows investigation of the geographical distribution of diseases. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between esophageal cancer and effective climatic factors using GIS. The dispersion distribution and the relationship between environmental factors effective on cancer were measured using Arc GIS. The highest degree of spread was in Germi town and the least was in Ardabil city. There was a significant relationship between effective environmental factors and esophageal cancer in Ardabil province. The results indicated that environmental factors probably are influential in determining the incidence of esophageal cancer. Also, these results can be considered as a window to future comprehensive research on esophageal cancer and related risk factors.
authors.affiliation: Community Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Science, Ardabil, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeid Sadeghieh
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ahari
authors.forename: Fridoon Babaei
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Agdam
authors.forename: Firouz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amani
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yazdanbod
authors.forename: Leyla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Akhghari
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D040362:Geographic Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors