Spatial and temporal modeling of breast cancer mortality in Kansas: An R-INLA approach

“

This study highlights that breast cancer mortality in Kansas is not evenly distributed across geography and that rural communities may face a disproportionate burden, likely reflecting broader differences in healthcare access, screening opportunities, and structural resources rather than any single risk factor alone. By combining county-level and cluster-level spatial–temporal modeling, the findings show how advanced analytic methods can help identify places where public health efforts may be most needed, especially when small numbers make conventional analyses unstable. From a population health perspective, these results support more geographically targeted strategies such as improving access to screening, diagnostic follow-up, oncology care, and prevention resources in high-risk rural areas while also emphasizing that the observed associations are ecological and should be used to guide further investigation rather than make individual-level causal conclusions.

”