Integrated ranking (by ZIP code) of Davidson county subpopulations based on risk factors associated with breast cancer.

Davidson county ZIP codes were ranked for each risk factor in numerical order according to: breast cancer incidence per 100,000 women, percentage of the female population over the age of 50 years, breast cancer mortality rate per 100,000 women, rate of Stage IV diagnosis, annual median income per household, the percentage of the female population lacking health insurance, and the percentage of the non-white population. Based on their numerical ranking in each dataset category, each ZIP code was assigned a risk factor quartile score, with 1 indicating the lowest quartile, and 4 indicating the highest quartile for each risk factor. The quartile score for breast cancer mortality rate was weighted double. The sum of the quartile scores of each category was calculated for each ZIP code to generate the integrated quartile score. A high integrated quartile score is intended to identify ZIP codes with the greatest need of breast cancer-related resources aimed at reducing breast cancer mortality.