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Cancer: A disease in which cells in the body become abnormal and grow or multiply out of control. It is often named for the part of the body where it starts, even if it spreads to other body parts later.
Cancer cluster: A greater-than-expected number of cancer cases that occurs within a group of people in a geographic area over a period of time. A person may expect that a cancer cluster exist when several loved ones, neighbors, or coworkers are diagnosed with cancer. However, what appears to be a cluster may actually reflect the expected number of cancer cases within the group or area.
Cancer stages:
The cancer stages presented in the NH Data Portal are the same as those used by the NH Cancer Registry.
The Cancer Registry uses the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End
Results (SEER) Program summary staging which is the most basic way of categorizing how far a cancer has
spread from its point of origin. Doctors commonly use the TNM (Tumor, Node and Metastasis) staging
system. The TNM system assigns a letter or number after each category to describe the amount and spread
of cancer. These detailed combinations may be grouped into five less detailed stages, Stage 0 through
Stage 4. More staging information is available at: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/diagnosis-staging/staging
Carbon monoxide (CO): A criteria air pollutant. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, poisonous gas formed by burning, especially fuels such as gasoline, oil, and wood. Breathing too much carbon monoxide interferes with the body's absorption of oxygen and therefore is especially dangerous for people with respiratory and heart disease.
Carbon monoxide poisoning: Illness that results from exposure to carbon monoxide. The most common symptoms are headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion.
Carcinogen: Any substance that causes or aggravates cancer.
Cardiovascular disease: A class of diseases that involves the heart or the blood vessels, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and rheumatic heart disease.
Childhood lead poisoning: Illness that results from exposure to lead. Lead poisoning can affect nearly every system in the body. It can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death.
Chronic health effect: A health condition that develops and persists over a long period of time
Classification by exposure gradient: Placing people into categories of risk by level of exposure to a hazard.
Clean Air Act: Under this law, EPA sets limits on how much of a pollutant can be in the air anywhere in the United States. http://www.epa.gov/air/caa/
Cleft Lip with or without Cleft Palate: A cleft lip is an opening in the upper lip. The opening in the lip can be a small slit in the lip or a large opening that goes through the lip into the nose. A cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth, called the palate. A cleft palate can occur when the two sides of the palate do not come together correctly.
Cleft Palate without Cleft Lip: A cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth, called the palate. A cleft palate can occur when the two sides of the palate do not come together correctly.
Cluster investigation: A review of an unusual number, real or perceived, of health events (for example, reports of cancer) grouped together in time and location. Cluster investigations are designed to confirm case reports; determine whether they represent an unusual disease occurrence; and, if possible, explore possible causes and contributing environmental factors.
Coarse particles: See Particulate matter.
Combustion: The process of burning. Many important air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and small particles, are the products the combustion of fuels such as coal, oil, gasoline, and wood.
Community Water System (CWS): A public water system that year-round serves residents of a community, subdivision, or mobile home park that has at least 15 service connections or an average of at least 25 residents.
Concentration The amount of one substance dissolved or contained in a unit amount of another substance, or the relative proportions of two or more quantities in a mixture. Sea water, for example, contains a higher concentration of salt than does fresh water. Concentrations, which may be expressed in various ways, are often described in terms of a component's percentage by weight or volume. Very low concentrations, such as those of various substances in the atmosphere, are commonly expressed in parts per million (ppm).
Confidence interval, 95%: (CI): Expressed as a percentage and used to determine how large the random error for an estimate is likely to be. Technically, if we hypothetically repeated a study 100 times, 95 times out of the 100, the true value of our estimate would fall within the upper and lower limit of this confidence interval.
Confidence level (CL, LCL, UCL): The statistically state range of the estimated value based on the confidence interval used (95%). The Lower Confidence Level (LCL) is the lower side of the range and the Upper Confidence Level (LCL) is the higher side.
Contaminant: Any substance or material that enters a system (such as the environment) where it is not normally found.
Criteria Pollutants: EPA uses six "criteria pollutants" as indicators of air quality, and has established for each of them a maximum concentration above which adverse effects on human health may occur. These six pollutants are: Ozone, Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Particulate Matter (less than 10 microns), Lead, and Carbon Monoxide.
Crude Rate: The number of cases or events in an area during a specified time period per unit population of interest such as "per 10,000" or "per 100,000." A crude rate is calculated by dividing the total number of events in a specified time period by the total number of individuals in the population who are at risk for these events and multiplying by a constant, such as 1,000 or 100,000 [e.g., (numerator/denominator) x constant]. For example, number of deaths in Belknap County for 2005 (numerator) divided by the population of Belknap County in 2005 (denominator) times 100,000 (constant) gives the 2005 crude death rate per 100,000 population for Belknap County.
Content Workgroup (CWG): A workgroup of the CDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program tasked to define appropriate core data and measures to track.
Coronary heart disease: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of heart disease. CHD occurs when the coronary arteries, that supply blood to the heart muscle, become hardened and narrowed due to the plaque buildup.
Correlation: Statistical measure of the degree to which variables change together. For example, ER visits resulting from asthma may be correlated with, or related to, ozone concentrations.
Count: Number.
Cumulative exposure: The sum of exposures of an organism to a chemical over a period of time.