2026-06-13

US Cancer Statistics Explorer

Reproducible Pitch

LaKeya King

Purpose

The US Cancer Statistics Explorer is an interactive Shiny application that allows users to:

  • Explore estimated new cancer cases by state
  • Explore estimated cancer deaths by state
  • Compare cases and deaths visually
  • Calculate an estimated death rate for selected cancers

The application was created to make national cancer statistics easier to explore through an interactive interface.

Data Source & Preparation

##     State               Cancer Value_Cases Value_Deaths
## 1 Alabama            All sites       30710        10670
## 2 Alabama       Colon & rectum        2690          970
## 3 Alabama        Female breast        4900          730
## 4 Alabama             Leukemia         870          360
## 5 Alabama      Lung & bronchus        3960         2370
## 6 Alabama Non-Hodgkin lymphoma         960          280

The application automatically:

  • Cleans the data
  • Converts values to numeric
  • Combines case and death datasets
  • Prepares the data for interactive filtering

Example Calculation

##     State    Cancer Cases Deaths DeathRate
## 1 Alabama All sites 30710  10670     34.7%
##    Min. 1st Qu.  Median    Mean 3rd Qu.    Max.    NA's 
##      80     870    2380   14659    6520 2114850       3

The Shiny application performs this calculation dynamically whenever a user selects a different state or cancer type.

Example Visualization

The Shiny application displays similar visualizations based on the user’s selected state and cancer type.

Features & Future Improvements

Current Features

  • Interactive state selection
  • Cancer type selection
  • Estimated new cases
  • Estimated deaths
  • Death rate calculation
  • Dynamic bar chart
  • Interpretation of mortality

Future Enhancements

  • Interactive U.S. map
  • Trend analysis across years
  • Downloadable reports
  • Additional demographic filters