Spatial features of the risk of oncological diseases in the territory of the Gomel and Mogilev regions of Belarus

Abstract

The article presents the results of the cartographic analysis of the Belarusian Cancer Registry data, including the spatial features of morbidity due to cancer in different sex and age groups of the rural population. The maps, characterizing the features of the spatial heterogeneity of the oncological diseases (OD) in the Gomel and Mogilev regions of Belarus, were built for the first time. The performed mapping revealed the anomalous zones, representing the groups of compactly located rural settlements, for which the OD level (including OD of different localizations observed in both men and women) differs by a factor of 4 or more. The assessed differences in the OD risk are statistically significant. On this basis, we infer that the anomalous zones in the territory of Belarus, in any case, demonstrate both a high spatial contrast of OD manifestation and regular spatial organization. These confirm the hypothesis about a relationship between the OD risk and the environmental parameters and, in turn, allow a reasonable conclusion about the endemic nature of cancer as a provoked “human disease”. We consider that the detected zones of positive and negative anomalies must have significant ecological and geochemical differences. Therefore, they should be recognized as the objects of priority control since the population living in the high-risk areas undoubtedly needs priority screening and applying the corresponding preventive measures.