Are "immortals" an issue for survival estimates derived from Canadian Cancer Registry data?

IF 2.7 2区医学 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Health Reports Pub Date : 2023-12-20 DOI:10.25318/82-003-x202301200002-eng

Larry F Ellison

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Abstract

Background: The validity of survival estimates from cancer registry data depends, in part, on the identification of the deaths of deceased cancer patients. People whose deaths are missed seemingly live on forever and are informally referred to as "immortals." Their presence in registry data can result in inflated survival estimates. This study assesses the issue of immortals in the Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) using a recently proposed method that compares the survival of long-term survivors of cancers for which "statistical" cure has been reported with that of similar people from the general population.

Data and methods: Data are from the population-based CCR record linked to the Canadian Vital Statistics - Death Database and tax data. Yearly interval-specific relative survival (IRS) estimates were derived up to 15 years after diagnosis for colon cancer cases, and for colon, rectal and melanoma cancer cases combined, diagnosed from 1992 to 2002.

Results: With increasing follow-up time since diagnosis, national colon cancer IRS estimates levelled off at 1.00, or slightly less, for each age group studied, indicating that survival did not exceed that of the general population. Similar results were obtained among males and females, and for colon, rectal and melanoma cancer cases combined. Provincial IRS point estimates for the three cancers combined also levelled off around 1.00, though with more variation in the estimates than at the national level.

Interpretation: Based on the results of this study, immortals do not appear to be an issue at either the national or the provincial level for survival estimates derived from CCR data.

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对于从加拿大癌症登记数据中得出的生存率估计值来说，"不死人 "是否是一个问题？

背景：从癌症登记数据中估算生存率的有效性部分取决于对已故癌症患者死亡的识别。遗漏死亡的人似乎永远活着，被非正式地称为 "不死人"。他们在登记数据中的存在会导致生存率估计值被夸大。本研究使用最近提出的一种方法评估了加拿大癌症登记处（CCR）中的 "不死人 "问题，该方法将已报告 "统计 "治愈的癌症长期幸存者的存活率与普通人群中类似人群的存活率进行比较：数据来自与加拿大生命统计--死亡数据库和税收数据相连接的基于人口的 CCR 记录。对 1992 年至 2002 年期间确诊的结肠癌病例以及结肠癌、直肠癌和黑色素瘤合并病例，得出了确诊后 15 年的年间隔特定相对存活率（IRS）估计值：随着确诊后随访时间的延长，每个年龄组的全国结肠癌 IRS 估计值均稳定在 1.00 或略低于 1.00，这表明结肠癌患者的存活率并未超过普通人群。男性和女性的结果类似，结肠癌、直肠癌和黑色素瘤病例的结果也类似。三种癌症的省级 IRS 点估计值也在 1.00 左右趋于平稳，但与全国水平相比，估计值的差异更大：根据这项研究的结果，无论是在国家层面还是在省级层面，对于根据 CCR 数据得出的生存率估计值来说，不朽似乎都不是一个问题。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Health Reports PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

7.30

自引率

4.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Health Reports publishes original research on diverse topics related to understanding and improving the health of populations and the delivery of health care. We publish studies based on analyses of Canadian national/provincial representative surveys or Canadian national/provincial administrative databases, as well as results of international comparative health research. Health Reports encourages the sharing of methodological information among those engaged in the analysis of health surveys or administrative databases. Use of the most current data available is advised for all submissions.