Cancer Statistics

Cancer Statistics terms

1. Age-Adjusted Rate A statistical method allowing comparisons of populations that takes into account age-distribution differences between populations.
2. Age-Conditional Risk A term related to lifetime risk. The probability of developing cancer starting at a specific age and during a specified number of years.
3. Age-Specific Rate The rate of incidence or mortality of a specific age group, calculated per 100,000 people.
4. Annual Percent Change (APC) (APC) The average annual percent change over several years. The APC is used to measure trends or the change in rates over time.
5. Annual Report to the Nation An annual update of cancer death rates, incidence rates (new cases), and trends in the United States.
6. Cancer Burden An estimate of the financial, emotional, or social impact that cancer creates within the population.
7. Cancer Statistics Review (CSR) (CSR) An annual report containing the most recent incidence, mortality, and survival statistics, published by the Cancer Statistics Branch of the NCI.
8. Collaborative Staging Algorithm A joint effort by several organizations to develop standard computerized methods for determining the stage of cancer based on tumor size, extension of the…
9. Confidence Interval An estimated range of values which is likely to include an unknown population parameter. The 95% (p-value = .05) and 99% (p-value = .
10. Crude Probability of Death The crude probability of death measures the mortality patterns actually experienced in a cohort of cancer patients on which many possible causes of death…
11. Crude Rate A crude rate is the ratio of the number of people in which the event of interest happens in a specified time period to the size of the population who may…
12. Death Rate See Mortality.
13. Delayed Reporting See Reporting delay.
14. Extent of Disease See Stage.
15. Fast Stats Fast Stats is designed to allow quick and easy access to key statistics for all major cancer sites by age, sex, race, and geographic area.
16. Five-Year Survival Rate (... ser-VY-vul ...) The percentage of people in a study or treatment group who are alive five years after they were diagnosed with or treated for a…
17. Georeferenced Statistics Statistics reported by geographic location of the events (e.g., residence of the cancer case)
18. ICCC Classification At the time the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published their first monograph on Childhood Cancer…
19. In situ cancer See Stage.
20. Incidence The number of new cases of a disease diagnosed each year.
21. Incidence Rate The ratio of the number of new cancers of a specific site/type occurring in a specified population during a year to the number of individuals who were at…
22. Incidence, Delay-Adjusted A term related to incidence. An algorithm is used to estimate the incidence if it were unaffected by reporting delays.
23. Invasive Cancer (in-VAY-siv KAN-ser) Cancer that has spread beyond the layer of tissue in which it developed and is growing into surrounding, healthy tissues.
24. Joinpoint A statistical model for characterizing cancer trends which uses statistical criteria to determine how many times and when the trends in incidence or…
25. Joinpoint Software Statistical software for the analysis of trends using a regression model that describes trends by a sequence of straight line segments, connected at…
26. Life Tables A table for a given population listing, for each sex and each age from 0 to 120, how many members die at that age and how many survive one more year.
27. Lifetime Risk The probability of developing cancer in the course of one's lifespan. Lifetime risk may also be discussed in terms of the probability of developing or of…
28. Malignant Cancer See Invasive cancer.
29. Median Age at Diagnosis/Death The age at which half of all reported cases were older and half were younger.
30. Mortality The state of being mortal (destined to die). Mortality also refers to the death rate, or the number of deaths in a certain group of people in a certain…
31. Percent Change The percent change (PC) in a statistic over a given time interval is Percent change = (Final value - Initial value) / Initial value * 100.
32. Prevalence, Complete The number of people alive on a certain date who have been diagnosed with cancer at any time in their lives.
33. Prevalence, Limited Duration The number of people who have received a diagnosis of cancer during a defined time period, and who are alive on the last day of that period.
34. Primary Tumor The original tumor.
35. Probability The chance that an event occurs. It is usually expressed as a percent. Zero percent denotes impossibility, while 100% denotes certainty.
36. Probability of Developing Cancer The chance that a person will develop cancer in his/her lifetime.
37. Probability of Dying of Cancer The chance that a person will die from cancer.
38. Relative Survival Rate (REH-luh-tiv ser-VY-vul …) A way of comparing survival of people who have a specific disease with those who don't.
39. Reporting Delay The time elapsed before a diagnosed cancer case is reported to the NCI. Currently, there is a standard delay of 22 months between the end of the diagnosis…
40. SEER Registries Geographic areas that were selected for inclusion in the SEER Program based on their ability to operate and maintain a high quality population-based…
41. Spatial Correlation A measure of the tendency for places that are near to each other to have more similar (positive correlation) or dissimilar (negative correlation) values…
42. Stage The extent of a cancer in the body. Staging is usually based on the size of the tumor, whether lymph nodes contain cancer, and whether the cancer has…
43. Stage at Diagnosis The stage that the cancer has progressed to at the time of diagnosis.
44. standard error The standard error of an estimate is a measure of the sampling variability of the estimate.
45. Standard Million Population A standard million population for a geographic area is a table giving the number of persons in each age group 0, 1-4, ...
46. Standard Population A standard population for a geographic area, such as the US or the world, is a table giving the proportions of the population falling into the age groups…
47. Statistically Significant Describes a mathematical measure of difference between groups. The difference is said to be statistically significant if it is greater than what might be…
48. Surveillance Data (Cancer) Data is used to monitor changes in cancer in a population. Included are measures of cancer incidence, morbidity, survival, prevalence and mortality.
49. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (SEER) The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the NCI is a collection of central cancer registries in the United States that collect…
50. Survival Survival examines how long after diagnosis people live. Cancer survival is measured in a number of different ways depending on the intended purpose.
51. Survival, Cause-specific A measure of net survival that is calculated by using the cause of death listed on death certificates to estimate the proportion of deaths due to cancer.
52. Survival, Net Survival from cancer that is calculated in the absence of other causes of death.
53. Survival, Observed An estimate of the probability of surviving all causes of death for a specified time interval calculated from the cohort of cancer cases.
54. Survival, Period A newer method for calculating survival that uses only information from the most recent calendar years available.
55. Survival, Progression-Free The length of time during and after treatment in which a patient is living with a disease that does not get worse.
56. Survival, Relative A measure of net survival that is calculated by comparing observed (overall) survival with expected survival from a comparable set of people that do not…
57. Trends Over Time The change in rate over time expressed as an annual percent change.