Module 5: Interpreting
Cancer: Statistics Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)
Objective: Learn
about cancer registries and how to use and interpret the data.
Visit the SEER Web site
at http://seer.cancer.gov/.
Click on "About SEER" to learn more about how SEER tracks cancer
rates.
From the "Choose a
Cancer Site" pop-up menu at the bottom of the SEER homepage, click on
"Lung and Bronchus."
As you scroll down this
page, you can choose to view data on incidence, mortality, survival, and
prevalence. You can also jump ahead to a certain section by using the
buttons at the top of the page.
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A.
Age-adjusted Incidence Rates
Step 1: Find the
heading "Incidence" and the sub-heading "Line Charts
Displaying Age-Adjusted (1970 U.S. Standard Population) SEER Incidence
Rates for Individual Years."
Step 2: Click on "Nine Registries for 1973-1998" By Sex
[All Ages].
Questions
- Define
incidence as used in this chart. What is in the numerator? What is in
the denominator?
- What does
"age-adjustment" mean in this context? (Tip: The "standard population"
used is listed above the graph, under "Selections.")
- What was
the age-adjusted incidence of lung and bronchus cancer for the total
population in 1973? 1985? 1998? (Tip: The "total population" is males
and females taken together. See the color key below the graph.) What
was the age-adjusted incidence for men in 1973? 1985? 1998? What was
the age-adjusted incidence for women in 1973? 1985? 1998?
- How can
you explain the trends in lung and bronchus cancer incidence in men
compared to women over the past 25 years?
See Answers to Exercise A
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B. Crude Incidence Rates
Step 1: Go back
to the "Lung and Bronchus Cancer" site page.
Step 2: Find the heading "Incidence" and the subheading
"Line Charts Displaying Crude ("Age-Specific") Total U.S.
Incidence Rates."
Step 3: Click on "Nine Registries" for 1989-1998 by [Race
and Sex].
Questions
- What does
"age-specific" mean in this chart? What is in the numerator and in the
denominator? How are "age-adjusted" incidence rates different from "age-specific"
incidence rates? What might be the advantage of looking at age-specific
rates on lung and bronchus cancer?
- What happens
to the incidence of lung and bronchus cancer as people get older?
- What can
you say about lung and bronchus cancer incidence rates among men compared
to women? Among black men compared to white men? Among black women compared
to white women? What factors might explain these differences?
See Answers to Exercise B
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C.
Age-adjusted Mortality Rates
Step 1: Go back
to the "Lung and Bronchus Cancer" site page.
Step 2: Find the heading "Mortality" and the sub-heading
"Line Charts Displaying Age-Adjusted (1970 U.S. Standard Population)
Total U.S. Mortality Rates for Individual Years."
Step 3: Click on "1969-1998" By Sex [All Ages].
Questions
- Define
"mortality" as used in this chart.
- What year
had the highest overall (male+female) age-adjusted mortality rate from
lung cancer? The highest mortality rate for men? For women? How might
you explain these differences?
- Compare
and contrast the trends in age-adjusted incidence rates of lung
and bronchus cancer with the trends in age-adjusted mortality rates
for this cancer. (Refer to the data on age-adjusted incidence rates
in Exercise A above.) Would you expect the two graphs to be similar?
What can comparing these two graphs tell you about how treatable or
how fatal a given disease is?
See Answers to Exercise C
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