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Contact Information
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
Division of Cancer
Prevention and Control
4770 Buford Hwy, NE
MS K-64
Atlanta, GA 30341-3717

Call: 1 (800) CDC-INFO
TTY: 1 (888) 232-6348
FAX: (770) 488-4760

E-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov

United States Cancer Statistics (USCS)

Technical Notes: Data Sources

Incidence Data
The primary source of data on cancer incidence is medical records. Staff at health care facilities abstract data from patients' medical records, enter it into the facility's own cancer registry if it has one, and then send the data to the regional or state registry.

Mortality Data
Cancer mortality statistics are based on information from all death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia and processed by the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS).

Population Denominator Data
The population estimates for the denominators of incidence and death rates are race-specific, ethnicity-specific, and sex-specific county population estimates aggregated to the state or metropolitan-area level.

Page last reviewed: December 18, 2012
Page last updated: December 2, 2008
Content source: Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
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