Cluster Analysis of Mortality in an Area of Campania Region (Italy), with Intense Environmental Pressure due to Waste

Different health effects have been repeatedly associated with residence close to waste landfill sites. The Campania region experienced a long period waste crisis including widespread illegal practice of dumping toxic and urban waste. In that area, statistically significant clusters of mortality by lung, liver, gastric, kidney and bladder cancers and of prevalence of selected congenital malformations have been reported (Fazzo, 2008); many of these outcomes resulted spatially correlated with an intensity index of waste-related exposure (Martuzzi et al. 2009). The objective is to investigate whether non-cancer mortality causes show a tendency for clustering in the waste dumping areas.