State Cancer Profiles

Interpretation of Death Rates Data

Death Rate Report for Massachusetts by County

All Cancer Sites, 2015-2019

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

Sorted by Name

Explanation of Column Headers

Objective - The objective of 0.0 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 ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 497.3 with a 95% confidence interval from 493.2 to 501.3 and 12,172 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• 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 ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 512.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 511.4 to 512.6 and 568,048 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : N/A
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.1 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.4 to -1.8.

Barnstable County

• Met Healthy People Objective of ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 503.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 486.2 to 521.5 and 660 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 6 (3, 10)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.5 to -1.1.

Berkshire County

• Met Healthy People Objective of ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 511.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 485.8 to 537.5 and 316 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 5 (1, 10)
• 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 ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 526.4 with a 95% confidence interval from 512.3 to 540.8 and 1,090 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 4 (1, 6)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.4 to -1.1.

Dukes County

• Met Healthy People Objective of ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 453.8 with a 95% confidence interval from 388.3 to 527.1 and 36 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 13 (1, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.4 with a 95% confidence interval from -3.1 to -1.7.

Essex County

• Met Healthy People Objective of ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 476.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 465.2 to 488.1 and 1,387 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 11 (8, 13)
• 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 ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 501.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 465.3 to 538.7 and 157 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 7 (1, 13)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.6 to -0.9.

Hampden County

• Met Healthy People Objective of ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 533.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 517.6 to 549.3 and 910 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 1 (1, 6)
• 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 ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 486.3 with a 95% confidence interval from 460.4 to 513.2 and 277 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 8 (5, 13)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.5 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.8 to -1.1.

Middlesex County

• Met Healthy People Objective of ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 468.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 460.3 to 477.0 and 2,508 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 12 (10, 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 ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 417.7 with a 95% confidence interval from 325.8 to 527.0 and 15 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 14 (1, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -3.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -4.5 to -2.1.

Norfolk County

• Met Healthy People Objective of ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 485.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 473.8 to 498.2 and 1,266 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 9 (6, 12)
• 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 ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 526.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 512.4 to 541.7 and 1,033 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 3 (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 ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 483.3 with a 95% confidence interval from 469.9 to 497.0 and 1,017 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 10 (6, 13)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -3.7 with a 95% confidence interval from -4.6 to -2.8.

Worcester County

• Met Healthy People Objective of ***? : ***
• Rate : The death rate is 528.8 with a 95% confidence interval from 516.7 to 541.2 and 1,501 average annual deaths over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 2 (1, 6)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.4 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.5 to -1.2.

Notes:
Created by statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov on 08/13/2022 12:18 am.

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 2020 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 1969-2018 US Population Data File is used with mortality data.


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.