Health Burdens and SES in Alabama: Using Geographic Information System to Examine Prostate Cancer Health Disparity

Abstract

Socioeconomic disparities influence the risk of many diseases, including cancer. The cancer rate in Alabama is high, and the state has one of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the USA. Alabama’s counties are embedded with socioeconomic disparities, politics, race, ethnicity, and oppression, among which social equity and socioeconomic status (SES) been closely associated with prostate cancer. The Geographic Information System (GIS) has become a valuable technology in understanding public health in many applications, including cancer. This study integrates Alabama’s county-level prostate cancer incidence and mortality and its association with socioeconomic and health disparities. We conducted robust data mining from several data sources such as the Alabama State Cancer Profile data, Alabama Department of Health, American Cancer Society, Center for Disease Control, and National Cancer Institute. The research method is the Geographic Information System (GIS), and we employed prostate cancer data within GIS to understand Alabama’s prostate cancer prevalence regarding SES. The GIS analysis indicated an apparent socioeconomic disparity between the Black Belt and Non-Black Belt counties of Alabama. The Black Belt counties’ poverty rate is also remarkably higher than non-Black Belt counties. In addition, we analyzed the median household income by race. Our analysis demonstrates that the Asian background population in the state earned the highest median income compared to non-Hispanic whites and the African American population. Furthermore, the data revealed that the preexisting condition of diabetes and obesity is closely associated with prostate cancer. The GIS analysis suggests that prostate cancer incidence and mortality disparities are strongly related to SES. In addition, the preexisting condition of obesity and diabetes adds to prostate cancer incidences. Poverty also reflects inequalities in education, income, and healthcare facilities, particularly among African Americans, contributing to Alabama’s health burden of prostate cancer.

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among Rural Dwelling Older African American Women

“…The Black Belt Region is named for its dark, fertile soil https://doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v24i1.755 located along central Alabama and has been designated as underserved counties. These counties include the Hale, Sumter, Greene, Choctaw, Maringo, Perry, Dallas, Wilcox, Butler, Pike, Montgomery, Barber, Russell, Macon and Lowndes (Aladuwaka et al, 2022) The study was advertised using flyers and word-of-mouth in the rural communities of Alabama. These communities include the individuals living in their residential housing and not in any assisted living facility, nursing home, or rehabilitation facility.…”

Application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the Study of Prostate Cancer Disparities: A Systematic Review

“…Spatial autocorrelation is the term used to describe the presence of systematic spatial variation in a variable and it's the tendency for areas or sites that are close together to have similar values [66]. As Waldo Tobler's first law of geography states: "Everything is related to everything else.…”

Differential Expression of miRNAs Contributes to Tumor Aggressiveness and Racial Disparity in African American Men with Prostate Cancer

“…African American (AA) men have 1.6-fold higher incidence and 2.2-fold higher PC mortality rates than European American (EA) men [ 3 ]. Previous studies have reported that PCa survival or mortality disparities cannot be fully explained by different socioeconomic status [ 4 , 5 ]. These results suggest that biological background accounts for a significant portion of PCa disparity with regard to mortality, incidence, and progression in AA men compared to EA men.…”