State Cancer Profiles

Interpretation of Incidence Rates Data

Incidence Rate Report for Massachusetts by County

All Cancer Sites (All Stages^), 2015-2019

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

Sorted by Rate

Explanation of Column Headers

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

Incidence Rate (95% Confidence Interval) - The incidence rate is based upon 100,000 people and is an annual rate (or average annual rate) based on the time period indicated. Rates are age-adjusted by 5-year age groups to the 2000 U.S. standard million population.

Recent Trends - This is an interpretation of the AAPC/APC:

• Rising when 95% confidence interval of AAPC/APC is above 0.
• Stable when 95% confidence interval of AAPC/APC includes 0.
• Falling when 95% confidence interval of AAPC/APC is below 0.

AAPC/APC (95% Confidence Interval) - the change in rate over time

• Average Annual Percent Change - AAPCs are based upon APCs that were calculated by Joinpoint Regression Program
• Annual Percent Change - APCs calculated in SEER*Stat.

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

Massachusetts⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 454.8 with a 95% confidence interval from 452.7 to 456.8 and 38,547 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : N/A
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -2.0 with a 95% confidence interval from -4.1 to 0.1.

US (SEER+NPCR)¹

• Rate : The incidence rate is 449.4 with a 95% confidence interval from 449.1 to 449.7 and 1,728,431 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : N/A
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -0.9 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.0 to 0.2.

Nantucket County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 509.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 455.2 to 568.9 and 67 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 1 (1, 9)
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -1.4 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.7 to 0.0.

Plymouth County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 492.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 484.6 to 500.0 and 3,384 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 2 (1, 4)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.0 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.3 to -0.6.

Barnstable County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 492.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 481.1 to 503.2 and 1,988 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 3 (1, 4)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.1 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.4 to -0.8.

Dukes County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 483.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 444.4 to 524.9 and 132 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 4 (1, 9)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.2 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.1 to -0.4.

Bristol County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 477.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 470.3 to 485.0 and 3,421 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 5 (3, 7)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -0.6 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.0 to -0.3.

Worcester County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 475.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 469.4 to 481.9 and 4,768 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 6 (3, 7)
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -1.5 with a 95% confidence interval from -3.6 to 0.7.

Norfolk County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 469.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 462.5 to 475.6 and 4,166 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 7 (4, 7)
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -2.2 with a 95% confidence interval from -4.7 to 0.3.

Essex County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 456.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 449.9 to 462.2 and 4,542 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 8 (7, 9)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.9 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.5 to -1.4.

Berkshire County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 446.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 433.1 to 461.2 and 898 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 9 (7, 11)
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is 0.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -0.9 to 1.6.

Hampden County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 436.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 429.1 to 444.8 and 2,540 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 10 (9, 11)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -0.8 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.0 to -0.6.

Middlesex County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 434.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 429.7 to 438.3 and 8,159 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 11 (9, 11)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -3.4 with a 95% confidence interval from -5.8 to -1.0.

Suffolk County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 418.3 with a 95% confidence interval from 411.8 to 425.0 and 3,230 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 12 (12, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.6 with a 95% confidence interval from -3.0 to -2.3.

Hampshire County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 414.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 401.3 to 428.4 and 808 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 13 (12, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.2 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.6 to -0.9.

Franklin County⁷

• Rate : The incidence rate is 410.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 392.1 to 428.9 and 443 average annual cases over 2015-2019.
• CI*Rank⋔ : 14 (12, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -0.8 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.3 to -0.3.

Notes:
Created by statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov on 02/03/2023 3:33 pm.

State Cancer Registries may provide more current or more local data.
† Incidence rates (cases per 100,000 population per year) are age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population (19 age groups: <1, 1-4, 5-9, ... , 80-84, 85+). Rates are for invasive cancer only (except for bladder cancer which is invasive and in situ) or unless otherwise specified. Rates calculated using SEER*Stat. Population counts for denominators are based on Census populations as modified by NCI. The US Population Data File is used for SEER and NPCR incidence rates.
Rates and trends are computed using different standards for malignancy. For more information see malignant.html.

^ All Stages refers to any stage in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) summary stage.

Source: SEER and NPCR data. For more specific information please see the table.

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 the United States does not include data from Nevada.
Data for the 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.