Estimating relative survival of Italian cancer patients from sparse cancer registries data.
OBJECTIVE
A method is presented for estimating relative survival of cancer patients at the national level from survival data provided by cancer registries covering only a subset of the general population and referring to different, and not necessarily overlapping, incidence periods.


METHODS
Relative survival rates are estimated as a function of the covariates sex, age, epoch of diagnosis, and registry area by means of a multiple regression model. National estimates are then computed by appropriate weighting of the sex-, age-, time- and registry-specific expected relative survival values.


RESULTS
The method is illustrated by a sample application to survival data of female breast cancer patients in Italy. The national estimates of breast cancer survival pattern show a mild decrease of survival with age and a marked increase with period of diagnosis.
De Angelis
R
R
Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Capocaccia
R
R
Verdecchia
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D012042:Registries; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk; D015996:Survival Rate