Spatial association mining between melanoma prevalence rates, risk factors, and healthcare disparities

This project uses association rule mining to explore relationships among potential factors related to Skin Melanoma occurrence. The goal is to see if there are any environmental or demographic factors, such as age, education, poverty, UV exposure, or others that can be identified using their spatial relationship. By analyzing data from 2004 and 2014, this study can investigate decadal trends and differences. In a pilot study of Missouri, melanoma was analyzed with No College Education, Poverty, and Access to Healthcare Facilities. Relationships found were not significant. This study utilized more factors in an effort to explore for stronger associations. These findings will guide future research pertaining to Melanoma prevention and education. The anticipated outcome is a set of quantified rules that describe strong relationships among and between factors and normalized county Melanoma counts as summarized from the SEER data.