New data bring to a close Australia’s most intensive cancer cluster investigation
Though only a small proportion of cancer clusters are reported in the peer-reviewed literature, a consistent picture emerges from those reports. The term “cancer cluster” refers to health authorities being alerted to a perceived increased incidence of cancer, involving 15 cases or fewer in the first instance, within a particular community or group. Aware of the anxiety generated by the prospect of a cancer cluster, cluster investigators focus on local circumstances that might account for increased risk, and if they fail to identify any such factors, the matter rests.1
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
- 1 Cancer Control Program, Public Health Unit, South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service, Sydney, NSW.
- 2 Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.
- 1. Westley-Wise VJ, Stewart BW, Kreis I, et al. Investigation of a cluster of leukaemia in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, 1989–1996. Med J Aust 1999; 171: 178-183. <MJA full text>
- 2. Sitas F, O’Connell DL, van Kemenade C, et al. Breast cancer risk among female employees of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia. Med J Aust 2010; 192: 651-654.
- 3. Armstrong B, Aitken J, Sim M, Swan N. Breast cancer at the ABC Toowong Queensland. Final report of the Independent Review and Scientific Investigation Panel. 2007. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/Breast_Cancer_Toowong_Final_Report.pdf (accessed Feb 2010).
- 4. Stewart BW. “There will be no more!”: the legacy of the Toowong breast cancer cluster. Med J Aust 2007; 187: 178-180. <MJA full text>
- 5. Rothman KJ. A sobering start for the cluster busters’ conference. Am J Epidemiol 1990; 132 (1 Suppl): S6-S13.
- 6. Doll R. Strategy for detection of cancer hazards to man. Nature 1977; 265: 589-596.
- 7. Stewart BW. Banding carcinogenic risks in developed countries: a procedural basis for qualitative assessment. Mutat Res 2008; 658: 124-151.
- 8. Winn DM. The Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project. Nat Rev Cancer 2005; 5: 986-994.
- 9. Stewart BW. Confusion and anxiety about reported causes of cancer [abstract]. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol 2009; 5 Suppl 2: A153.
- 10. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries. Cancer in Australia: an overview. Canberra: AIHW, 2008. (AIHW Cat. No. CAN 42; Cancer Series No. 46.)
- 11. Niederdeppe J, Levy AG. Fatalistic beliefs about cancer prevention and three prevention behaviors. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007; 16: 998-1003.