[Estimation of disability weights on malignant neoplasms in Shandong province].
OBJECTIVE
To determine stage-specific and average disability weights (DWs) of malignant neoplasm and provide support and evidence for study on burden of cancer and policy development in Shandong province.


METHODS
Health status of each cancer patient identified during the cancer prevalence survey in Shandong, 2007 was investigated. In line with the GBD methodology in estimating DWs, the disability extent of every case was classified and evaluated according to the Six-class Disability Classification version and then the stage-specific weights and average DWs with their 95% confidence intervals were calculated, using SAS software.


RESULTS
A total of 11 757 cancer cases were investigated and evaluated. DWs of specific stage of therapy, remission, metastasis and terminal of all cancers were 0.310, 0.218, 0.450 and 0.653 respectively. The average DW of all cancers was 0.317 (95%CI: 0.312 - 0.321). Weights of different stage and different cancer varied significantly, while no significant differences were found between males and females. DWs were found higher (> 0.4) for liver cancer, bone cancer, lymphoma and pancreas cancer. Lower DWs (< 0.3) were found for breast cancer, cervix uteri, corpus uteri, ovarian cancer, larynx cancer, mouth and oropharynx cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Stage-specific and average DWs for various cancers were estimated based on a large sample size survey. The average DWs of 0.317 for all cancers indicated that 1/3 healthy year lost for each survived life year of them. The difference of DWs between different cancer and stage provide scientific evidence for cancer prevention strategy development.
Ma
Ji-xiang
JX
Shandong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jinan 250014, China.
Sun
Jian-dong
JD
Fu
Zhen-tao
ZT
Xu
Ai-qiang
AQ
Guo
Xiao-lei
XL
Lu
Zi-long
ZL
D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012494:Sampling Studies