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Cancer Incidence Rates
A cancer incidence rate is the number of
new cancers of a specific site/type occurring in a specified population
during a year, usually expressed as the number of cancers per 100,000
population at risk. That is,
Incidence rate = (New cancers
/ Population) × 100,000
The numerator of the incidence rate is the number
of new cancers; the denominator is the size of the population. The
number of new cancers may include multiple primary cancers occurring
in one patient. The primary site reported is the site of origin and not the
metastatic site. In general, the incidence rate would not include recurrences.
The population used depends on the rate to be calculated.
For cancer sites that occur in only one sex, the sex-specific population
(e.g., females for cervical cancer) is used.
An age-adjusted rate is a weighted average of the
age-specific rates, where the weights are the proportions of persons
in the corresponding age groups of a standard population. The potential
confounding effect of age is reduced when comparing age-adjusted
rates computed using the same standard population.
Find published reports and research tools for calculating Incidence Statistics.
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