United States Cancer Statistics (USCS)

Technical Notes: USCS Publication Criteria

Cancer incidence data that appear on this Web site are from statewide or metropolitan area cancer registries that have high-quality cancer incidence data for individual (e.g., 2000) and combined (e.g., 2001–2005) years as demonstrated by meeting the following criteria on data quality for all cancer sites combined—

• Case ascertainment is 90% or more complete.
  The registry data include at least 90% of the expected, unduplicated cases, where the expected cases are estimated by using methods developed by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR).^{1 2 3 4}
  
  Because some cancer patients receive diagnostic or treatment services at more than one reporting facility, cancer registries perform a procedure known as "unduplication" to ensure that each cancer case is counted only once.⁵



• No more than 5% of cases are ascertained solely on the basis of a death certificate.
  The proportion of cases ascertained solely on the basis of a death certificate, with no other information on the case available after the registry has completed a routine procedure known as "death clearance and followback,"^{5 6 7} is another measure of the completeness of case ascertainment.



• No more than 3% of cases are missing information on sex.



• No more than 3% of cases are missing information on age.



• No more than 5% of cases are missing information on race.



• At least 97% of the registry's records passed a set of single-field and interfield computerized edits.
  Computerized edits are computer programs that test the validity and logic of data components. For example, if (a) a patient received a diagnosis of cancer in 1999, (b) the patient's age was reported as 80 years, and (c) the patient's year of birth was reported as 1942, a computerized edit could, without human intervention, identify these components as incompatible. The computerized edits applied to the data in this report were designed by the SEER Program for use by SEER registries. During the 1990s, these edits were expanded and incorporated into NAACCR* standards and into the NPCR–EDITS software designed and maintained by CDC.

State and metropolitan area registries that met the publication criteria outlined above are available.

References

¹Tucker TC, Howe HL, Weir HK. Certification of population-based cancer registries. Journal of Registry Management 1999;26(1):24–27.

²Tucker TC, Howe HL. Measuring the quality of population-based cancer registries: the NAACCR perspective. Journal of Registry Management 2001;28(1):41–44.

³Wu XC, McLaughlin CC, Lake A, Firth R, Leonfellner S, Cormier M, Cardinez C, Kosary C, Roney D, Howe HL (eds). Cancer in North America, 2000–2004 Vol I: Incidence.* Springfield (IL): North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, Inc.; 2007.

⁴Howe HL. Conclusions of the Workgroup for High-Quality Criteria for Data Use: The NAACCR Narrative. Springfield (IL): North American Association of Central Cancer Registries; 2001.

⁵Havener L. Standards for Cancer Registries, Vol III: Standards for Completeness, Quality, Analysis, and Management of Data. Springfield (IL): North American Association of Central Cancer Registries; 2004.

⁶Menck HR, Phillips JL. Central cancer registries. In: Hutchinson CL, Menck HR, Burch M, Gottschalk R, editors. Cancer Registry Management: Principles and Practice. Second edition. Dubuque (IA): Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company; 2004.

⁷Seiffert JE, Hoyler SS, McKeen K, Potts M. Casefinding, abstracting, and death clearance. In: Menck HR, Smart C, editors. Central Cancer Registries: Design, Management, and Use. Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers; 1994.

*Links to non-Federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.