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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Life-Course Epidemiology and Social Inequalities in Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1405010

Configurational Analysis of Ovarian Cancer Incidence in 30 Provinces of China and its Policy Implications: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Approach

Provisionally accepted
Ying Shen Ying Shen 1Zhenyu Huang Zhenyu Huang 2*chan Li chan Li 3
  • 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
  • 2 Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China
  • 3 Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Ovarian cancer is one of the three most common gynecological cancers, with the highest mortality rate among gynecological malignancies. Previous studies on the environmental and socioeconomic (ESE) factors that affect ovarian cancer incidence (OCI) have generally only considered the net effects of single variables, while the synergistic effects among multiple factors have yet to be explored. Based on a sample of 30 provinces in Mainland China, an ESE configuration model was constructed in this study, using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis approach to empirically explore the configuration effects of multiple ESE factors on OCI. The main findings are as follows:(1) Education, marriage, income, insurance, urbanization, and environment alone do not constitute the necessary conditions for high or low OCI, indicating a need to comprehensively consider the configuration effects of these six conditions. (2) There are two configurations for high OCI: "configuration of environmental pollution under low socioeconomic development" and "configuration of insurance deficiency under high socioeconomic development." (3) There are two configurations for low OCI: "configuration of insurance adequacy under low socioeconomic development" and "configuration of insurance adequacy under low urbanization." The main contribution of this study is its focus on the configuration mechanism of ESE factors, enhancing understanding of the synergistic effects among the multiple factors that affect OCI. The study also provides valuable policy implications for decision-makers to formulate comprehensive health policies for the prevention and treatment of ovarian cancer.

    Keywords: Ovarian cancer incidence, environmental-socioeconomic factors, ESE model, FuzzySet qualitative comparative analysis, Configuration effect

    Received: 10 Apr 2024; Accepted: 06 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shen, Huang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zhenyu Huang, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.