AUGUST 2015
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Using cancer data to address an Alaska
community’s concerns about health risks
Map showing location of former military installations on the Ankau Saltchucks of the Phipps Peninsula near Yakutat, Alaska
Last summer, residents of Yakutat spoke up about a
serious health concern: Were the number of illnesses – particularly cancers –
being reported in the community higher than expected? Were those cancers
related to waste left behind from former military installations on the nearby
Ankau Saltchucks of the Phipps Peninsula?
In
June 2014, Joe Sarcone of the Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, contacted the Alaska Cancer Program about the community’s
concern. The Alaska
Cancer Program responded by launching a study of cancer incidence and
mortality of the Yakutat area.
Community
concerns were raised because leftover military waste was found on the Ankau
Saltchucks in places that had been traditionally used as a source for subsistence
food. The Yakutat Tlingit Tribe also ran a seasonal Culture Camp there through
2003 to teach children about the traditional Tlingit way of life and
subsistence foods.
The
cancer study resulted in several reports. Two reports involved calculating the
number of new cancer cases and cancer deaths from 1996-2011 that one would
expect to find, given the overall statewide cancer rate and Yakutat’s own population
distribution. The Alaska Cancer Program
then compared this expected number of new cancer cases and deaths to the actual
number of observed cases and deaths reported by healthcare providers during the
same time period. The difference between the number of expected and observed
cases and deaths was found to be small (0 cancer cases and 3 cancer deaths) and
not statistically significant. Another report reviewed the number of new cancer
cases and cancer deaths per year, as well as the types of cancers. The
distribution of cases and deaths by year appears to be random and there does
not appear to be a high number of uncommon cancers. Given that, the Alaska
Cancer Program concluded that the number and types of cancers in Yakutat does
not appear to be unusual, and so the military waste in the area was not causing
any additional cancers in the community.
Several program staff shared the results of the study with
Yakutat residents at a community meeting last summer. Yakutat’s response to the
Alaska Cancer Program study was positive. Leaders of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe
decided to shift their attention from trying to find causes of cancer in their
community to screening and early detection of cancer in their community. SEARHC (Southeast Alaska Regional Health
Consortium) was contacted to check on the availability of screening technology
for Yakutat. SEARHC arranged for and funded the transportation of a mobile
mammography unit from the Breast Cancer Detection Center in Fairbanks by vehicle
and ferry for use in Yakutat. There were 41 women who received mammograms in
May 2015. SEARHC plans to continue to send the unit to Yakutat on an annual
basis.
David
O’Brien, a data analyst with the Alaska Cancer Program, will share the results
of this study at 1 p.m., Tuesday, August 18, during the monthly webinar series
offered through the Section of Chronic
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The Section’s webinars are free
and short — lasting about 20 minutes, with 10 additional minutes for questions
and answers and to explore ways partners can work together on public health
projects. The webinars air live the third Tuesday of every month at 1 p.m. Click here to
register for and watch this and future live webinars. Past webinars will be
archived on the Section’s web page about the webinar series.
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