Re: Source of cancer data

["Otto G. Raabe" <ograabe@UCDAVIS.EDU>]

At 11:10 AM 12/19/01 -0500, BERNARD L COHEN wrote:

>

>The argument was that

>SEER data, which is based on incidence rather than mortality, was claimed

>to be better.

>If that is true, I would like to know why. Does anyone know why such

>claims are correct?

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December 19, 2001



The Atomic Bomb survivor incidence data has been found to be more reliable

than the mortality data because the mortality data is based on death

certificate information that is inclined to be biased (Pierce, D.A.,

Shimizu, Y., Preston, D.L., Vaeth, M., and Mabuchi, K. Studies of the

Mortality of Atomic Bomb Survivors. Report 12, Part 1. Cancer: 1950-1990,

Radiat. Res. 146, 1-27 (1996), see top of page where is says "...proximal

survivors...had a slightly higher chance of cancer being recorded on the

death certificate than distal survivors with the same evidence for the

cause of death....") In the US survival of cancer may vary by region or

county depending on medical treatment or economic factors, so that

incidence data might be better for looking for dose-response information.

Also, the cause of death may be decided by a resident physician or coroner

rather the a physician familiar with the medical record. Lung cancer might

be missed as the underlying cause of death if a full medical record is not

available and a secondary immediate cause, such as respiratory distress, is

more apparent.



Therefore, I conclude that incidence of disease is probably more accurate

than mortality data. However, in the case of lung cancer, the difference

between incidence data and mortality data may not be too great since

survival is low and lung cancer is relatively common.



Otto



**********************************************

Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP

Center for Health & the Environment

(Street Address: Bldg. 3792, Old Davis Road) 

University of California, Davis, CA 95616

E-Mail: ograabe@ucdavis.edu

Phone: (530) 752-7754   FAX: (530) 758-6140

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