Reviewed: 25 July 2005
Age†
The age of the patient (in completed years) at the time of diagnosis or death.
Age-Specific Rate
The number of new cases of cancer or cancer deaths during the year, expressed as a rate per 100,000 persons in a given age group.
Age-Standardized Rate
The number of new cases of cancer or cancer deaths per 100,000 that would have occurred in the standard population (1991 Canadian population) if the actual age-specific rates observed in a given population had prevailed in the standard population.
Communities Oncology Network
Network of cancer clinics, affiliated with the BC Cancer Agency, that provide cancer care in the community.
Disease Specific Survival Rate
Survival rate in which only deaths from the disease are counted.
ICD-9
The Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases.
Incidence†
The number of new cases of a given type of cancer diagnosed.
The basic unit of reporting is a new case of cancer rather than an individual patient.
Incidence Rate
The number of new cases of a given type of cancer per person in the general population (usually expressed as a rate per 100,000).
Incidence Ratio
Measures the relative rate of cancer in a Health Authority Region compared to the provincial average.
Mortality†
The number of deaths attributed to a particular type of cancer that occurred during the year.
Included are deaths of patients diagnosed in earlier years, persons with a new diagnosis during the year, and patients for whom a diagnosis of cancer is made only after death.
Mortality Rate
The number of new deaths of a given type of cancer per person in the general population (usually expressed as a rate per 100,000).
Overall Survival Rate
Survival rate in which deaths from any cause are counted.
Referred
Cases receiving some level of service at a BCCA cancer centre or Communities Oncology clinic (e.g. seen by a BCCA oncologist; cases registered with the BCCA pharmacy for drug reimbursement).
Relative Survival Rate
Overall survival rate which is statistically adjusted to remove the effects of deaths from causes other than the disease.
Standard Population
Polulation comparisons are adjusted for age differences by expressing outcomes in terms of age distribution of the standard population. See age-standardized rates.
Surveillance
Cancer surveillance includes the collection of data, and the review, analysis and dissemination of findings on incidence (new cases), prevalence, morbidity, survival and mortality. Surveillance also serves to collect information on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of the public with respect to practices that prevent cancer, facilitate screening, extend survival and improve quality of life.
Survival Rate
Proportion of people alive at a given time after diagnosis (e.g. 5 year survival rate)
Survival Time
Elapsed time between diagnosis and death.
TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours (5th Edition)
Publisher/Year: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., NewYork, 1997
TNM ensures unified procedures in the general method of classification by anatomical extent of disease. Classification by stages facilitates communication of exact unequivocal information on a malignant neoplasm. The rules of classification and division by stages will be changed in connection with new results in diagnostics and therapy.
† Copyright of the National Cancer Institute of Canada: Canadian Cancer Statistics 2002, Toronto Canada, 2002