Table of Contents
Definition of Cancer Cluster
(noun) A greater-than-expected level of cancer cases in a group of people within a defined geographic area over a period of time.
Examples of Cancer Cluster
Cancer Cluster Pronunciation
Syllabification: can·cer clus·ter
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /kAn-suhr klUHs-tuhr/
- British English – /kAn-suh klUHs-tuh/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈkænsər ˈklʌstər/
- British English – /ˈkænsə ˈklʌstə/
Usage Notes
- Plural: cancer clusters
- A cancer cluster can be found by statistically studying cancer rates among a given population.
- Geographical analysis machines (GAM) have been helpful in discovering cancer clusters.
- Cancer clusters are studied in epidemiology, human geography, medical geography, and medical sociology.
Related Quotation
- “Considering that cancer clusters (if related to a common a cause) are likely to be a response to a proximate (in time) change in the environment and also are likely to be a rare response to a common factor, cluster investigations should focus on the identification of factors that have impacted the community at large rather than just the individuals who contracted cancer. The likelihood of success for this type investigation would be increased if it were performed immediately upon identification of a cluster. Such an investigation can compare a community with other communities that have not experienced similar health outcomes, and focus on agents that factor into the known etiology of specific cancer types” (Goodman et al. 2014:1490).
Additional Information
- Medical Sociology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “cancer” and “cluster” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Germanno, Bradley D., ed. 2011. Cancer Clusters. New York: Nova Science.
- Kingsley, Beverly S., Karen L. Schmeichel, and Carol H. Rubin. 2007. “An Update on Cancer Cluster Activities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Environ Health Perspect 115(1):165–71. doi:10.1289/ehp.9021.
- About Cancer Clusters – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov
- Selected Publications on Cancer Clusters and Investigations – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov
- What is a Cancer Cluster? – American Cancer Society: cancer.org
- What is a Cancer Cluster? – National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health: cancer.gov
Related Terms
- chronic disease
- disease
- environmental racism
- epidemiology
- health
- medical sociology
- occupational disease
- population
- statistics
Reference
Goodman, Michael, Judy LaKind, Jerald Fagliano, Timothy Lash, Joseph Wiemels, Deborah Winn, Chirag Patel, Juliet Eenwyk, Betsy Kohler, Enrique Schisterman, Paul Albert, and Donald Mattison. 2014. “Cancer Cluster Investigations: Review of the Past and Proposals for the Future.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 11(2):1479–99. doi:10.3390/ijerph110201479.
Works Consulted
Castree, Noel, Rob Kitchin, and Alisdair Rogers. 2013. A Dictionary of Human Geography. New York: Oxford University Press.
Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged. 6th ed. 2003. Glasgow, Scotland: Collins.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Cancer Cluster
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “cancer cluster.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 17, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/cancer-cluster/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
cancer cluster. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/cancer-cluster/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “cancer cluster.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/cancer-cluster/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“cancer cluster.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 17 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/cancer-cluster/>.