State Cancer Profiles

Interpretation of Death Rates Data

Death Rate Report for Massachusetts by County

All Cancer Sites, 2016-2020

All Races (includes Hispanic), Both Sexes, Ages 50+

Sorted by Name

Explanation of Column Headers

Objective - The objective of 122.7 is from the Healthy People 2020 project done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Death Rate (95% Confidence Interval) - The death rate is based upon 100,000 people and is for 5 year(s). Rates are age-adjusted by 5-year age groups to the 2000 U.S. standard million population (the Healthy People 2020 goals are based on rates adjusted using different methods but the differences should be minimal).

Recent Trends - This is an interpretation of the AAPC:

• Rising when 95% confidence interval of average annual percent change is above 0.
• Stable when 95% confidence interval of average annual percent change includes 0.
• Falling when 95% confidence interval of average annual percent change is below 0.

AAPC (95% Confidence Interval) - The Average Annual Percent Change is the change in rate over time. These AAPCs are based upon APCs that were calculated by Joinpoint Regression Program

Other Notes

• Larger confidence intervals indicate less stability of the data. This is often due to low counts that are not quite low enough to be suppressed.
• Data is currently being suppressed if there are fewer than 16 counts for the time period.

Line by Line Interpretation of the Report

Massachusetts

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 485.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 481.9 to 489.8 and 12,123 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : N/A
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.0 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.1 to -1.9.

United States

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 501.7 with a 95% confidence interval from 501.1 to 502.3 and 569,776 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : N/A
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.1 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.3 to -1.8.

Barnstable County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 487.7 with a 95% confidence interval from 470.6 to 505.2 and 647 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 7 (5, 11)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.4 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.5 to -1.2.

Berkshire County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 489.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 464.4 to 514.6 and 307 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 6 (3, 12)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.5 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.7 to -1.2.

Bristol County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 517.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 503.4 to 531.4 and 1,090 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 3 (1, 6)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.6 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.8 to -1.4.

Dukes County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 473.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 407.6 to 546.0 and 40 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 9 (1, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.2 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.9 to -1.6.

Essex County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 464.7 with a 95% confidence interval from 453.7 to 476.0 and 1,379 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 11 (8, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.4 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.6 to -2.2.

Franklin County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 500.8 with a 95% confidence interval from 465.5 to 538.0 and 160 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 5 (1, 13)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.6 to -1.0.

Hampden County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 523.3 with a 95% confidence interval from 507.9 to 539.0 and 907 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 1 (1, 5)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.5 to -1.1.

Hampshire County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 470.8 with a 95% confidence interval from 445.8 to 496.8 and 278 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 10 (5, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.5 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.8 to -1.2.

Middlesex County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 459.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 451.7 to 468.1 and 2,503 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 13 (9, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.2 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.4 to -2.0.

Nantucket County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 442.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 348.2 to 553.3 and 16 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 14 (1, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -3.1 with a 95% confidence interval from -4.2 to -2.0.

Norfolk County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 480.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 468.6 to 492.7 and 1,274 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 8 (5, 11)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.9 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.1 to -1.7.

Plymouth County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 519.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 505.1 to 533.7 and 1,050 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 2 (1, 6)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.0 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.3 to -1.8.

Suffolk County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 461.8 with a 95% confidence interval from 448.8 to 475.1 and 990 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 12 (8, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -4.1 with a 95% confidence interval from -5.0 to -3.2.

Worcester County

• Met Healthy People Objective of 122.7? : No
• Rate : The death rate is 511.7 with a 95% confidence interval from 499.9 to 523.7 and 1,484 average annual deaths over 2016-2020.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 4 (1, 7)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -3.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -5.3 to -1.2.

Notes:
Created by statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov on 06/05/2023 4:36 pm.

State Cancer Registries may provide more current or more local data.

† Death data provided by the National Vital Statistics System public use data file. Death rates calculated by the National Cancer Institute using SEER*Stat. Death rates are age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population (19 age groups: <1, 1-4, 5-9, ... , 80-84, 85+). The Healthy People 2030 goals are based on rates adjusted using different methods but the differences should be minimal. Population counts for denominators are based on Census populations as modified by NCI.
The US Population Data File is used with mortality data.
‡ The Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) is based on the APCs calculated by Joinpoint. Due to data availability issues, the time period used in the calculation of the joinpoint regression model may differ for selected counties.


Please note that the data comes from different sources. Due to different years of data availability, most of the trends are AAPCs based on APCs but some are APCs calculated in SEER*Stat. Please refer to the source for each graph for additional information.

Interpret Rankings provides insight into interpreting cancer incidence statistics. When the population size for a denominator is small, the rates may be unstable. A rate is unstable when a small change in the numerator (e.g., only one or two additional cases) has a dramatic effect on the calculated rate.

Data for United States does not include Puerto Rico.

When displaying county information, the CI*Rank for the state is not shown because it's not comparable. To see the state CI*Rank please view the statistics at the US By State level.