Abstract
As compared with conventionally reported national population-based incidence rates, incidence rates better represent the “burden” of disease if they remove prevalent cases from the denominator. In order to reflect the “risk” in a disease-free population, rates should both exclude prevalent cases from the denominator and second or later diagnosed cases at the same site from the numerator. Five common cancers were evaluated through a correction method using 2005–2007 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program data to determine the extent of difference between conventional and corrected incidence rates. These corrections lowered the incidence rates 4.0–5.8% for female breast cancer, 4.6–7.6% for melanoma, 3.0–4.0% for colorectal cancer, and 2.1–2.5% for lung and bronchus cancer. Corrected incidence rates for prostate cancer were 9.9–13.7% higher. In cancers with either high prevalence and/or high occurrence of multiple primaries at the same site, corrected population-based incidence rates are warranted.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altekruse SF, Kosary CL, Krapcho M, et al (eds) (2010) SEER cancer statistics review, 1975–2007. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD. http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2007/, based on November 2009 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, 2010. Accessed April 11, 2011
Merrill RM, Feuer EJ (1996) Risk-adjusted cancer incidence rates (United States). Cancer Causes Control 7(5):544–552
Hankey BF, Ries LA, Edwards BK (1999) The surveillance, epidemiology and end results program: a national resource. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 8(12):1117–1121
Gloeckler Ries LA, Reichman ME, Lewis DR, Hankey BF, Edwards BK (2003) Cancer survival and incidence from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Oncologist 8(6):541–552
Percy C, Van Holten B, Muir C (eds) (1990) International classification of disease for oncology, 2nd edn. World Health Organization, Geneva
Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute SEER*Stat software [www.seer.cancer.gov/seerstat] version 6.6.2. Accessed April 11, 2011
Raymond JS, Hogue JRC (2006) Multiple primary tumours in women following breast cancer, 1973–2000. Brit J Cancer 94(11):1745–1750
Bray F, Parkin DM (2009) Evaluation of data quality in the cancer registry: principles and methods. Part I: comparability, validity and timeliness. Eur J Cancer 45(5):747–755
Complete prevalence version 1.0.0. http://surveillance.cancer.gov/comprev/ Accessed April 11, 2011
Jemal A, Siegel R, Jiaquan Xu, Ward E (2010) Cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin 60(5):277–300
NCI (2010) DevCan: probability of developing or dying of cancer software, version 6.5.0. Statistical Research and Applications Branch, National Cancer Institute, 2010. http://srab.cancer.gov/devcan Accessed April 11, 2011
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Merrill, R.M., Sloan, A. & Novilla, L.B. Understanding Population-Based Site-Specific Cancer Incidence Rates in the USA. J Canc Educ 27, 263–268 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-011-0266-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-011-0266-3