Zenodo
Breast cancer vulnerability and population exposure using gis-based multi-criteria decision analysis in nigeria
By Yetunde Mariam Badmos and Olalekan John Taiwo.
Abstract
Background
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality among women in Nigeria. However, spatial variation in underlying risk-factor exposure across the country remains poorly understood. This study develops a Breast Cancer Vulnerability Index (BCVI) to identify where breast cancer risk factors are most spatially concentrated across Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Methods
Eleven lifestyle, environmental, and contextual risk criteria, including alcohol consumption, obesity, air pollution, tobacco use, and hormonal contraceptive use, were integrated using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) within a GIS-based weighted overlay. Criterion weights were derived using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) through pairwise comparisons, with consistency validated by a Consistency Ratio of 0.049 (CR ≤ 0.10). The Best-Worst Method (BWM) independently tested the stability of the AHP weights. Cohen's Kappa and Spearman's rank correlation were used to assess agreement between the two methods, while Spearman and Pearson correlations examined associations between vulnerability-class population and reported breast cancer incidence rates.