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Community and Research Perspectives on Cancer Disparities in Wisconsin
ORIGINAL RESEARCH — Volume 17 — October 8, 2020
PEER REVIEWED
Two maps show breast and lung cancer mortality rates across Wisconsin and indicate places where cancer mortality rates are higher or lower than regional rates. The map indicates that Vilas, Oneida, Marinette, Oconto, Milwaukee, Racine, and Walworth counties were the areas we visited to conduct listening sessions and interviews.
Figure 1.
Female breast cancer mortality rate (Map A) and lung cancer mortality rate (Map B), Wisconsin, 2008–2013. The female breast cancer mortality rate is indirectly age standardized and smoothed using adaptive spatial filtering. The lung cancer mortality rate is indirectly age–sex standardized and smoothed using adaptive spatial filtering. A grid of points is used to estimate mortality rates continuously across the map, based on the 20 closest breast cancer deaths and the 40 closest lung cancer deaths. Red areas indicate higher rates than expected and blue areas indicate lower rates than expected, compared with the regional rate. Areas without color indicate rates close to the regional rate. Data source: State Vital Records Office, Wisconsin Department of Health Services 2008-2013 (12). Reprinted with permission of Yuhong Zhou, PhD, and Kirsten Beyer, PhD, MPH, MS, Medical College of Wisconsin.
Listening sessions or interviews consisted of 205 participants; 67 were biomedical science researchers (39 basic science, 11 population health, and 17 clinical researchers) and 138 were community members who represented their counties. County participants were 11 from Marinette, 44 from Milwaukee, 11 from Oconto 11, 10 from Racine, 28 from Vila and Oneida combined, and 13 from Walworth. Twenty-one people from the Well Woman coordinators’ meeting also participated.
Figure 2.
Composition of listening sessions and interviews. A total of 205 participants answered semistructured questions about communities and cancer disparities in Wisconsin. Sixty-seven participants represented basic, population health, and clinical research, and 138 participants represented community perspectives. We also conducted a listening session at a coordinators meeting of Well Woman, the Wisconsin’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.
The opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors’ affiliated institutions.