Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Egondu Onyejekwe

Abstract

As a validation study, this study addressed an under-researched area of bronchopulmonary cancer mortality and incidence. The association between altitude and bronchopulmonary cancer mortality and incidence was investigated using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research. The theoretical framework for my study was Bronfenbrenner's ecological model. This model emphasizes the relevance of social and physical environments that influence patterns of disease and injury and shape responses to these patterns of disease and injury. The age-adjusted bronchopulmonary cancer mortality and incidence rates per 100,000 people in the highest elevation and lowest elevation states were investigated. The data used in this study spans from 2006 to 2014. In this study, bivariate statistics were used to analyze the data. The relevant technique of performing an unpaired t-test was used. After performing age, gender, and race-stratified analysis, no significant difference in cancer mortality and incidence was found within the following three groups: Black or African American, Asian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native. This was a new finding, as previous studies did not stratify for race. Cancer mortality and incidence were found to be lower in both the male and female groups for the highest elevation states. Cancer mortality and incidence were also found to be lower in all age categories for the highest elevation states. A positive social change impact of this study is that this research provides the groundwork for future studies to probe what in the environment is lowering the bronchopulmonary cancer mortality and incidence for the White population.

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