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Interpretation of Incidence Rates Data

Incidence Rate Report for Massachusetts by County

All Cancer Sites (All Stages^), 2017-2021

All Races (includes Hispanic), Female, 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:

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


Other Notes


Line by Line Interpretation of the Report


Massachusetts7


US (SEER+NPCR)1


Plymouth County7


Norfolk County7


Worcester County7


Berkshire County7


Essex County7


Barnstable County7


Hampden County7


Bristol County7


Franklin County7


Middlesex County7


Hampshire County7


Nantucket County7


Suffolk County7


Dukes County7




Notes:
Created by statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov on 01/21/2025 12:21 am.

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

† 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.
‡ Incidence data come from different sources. 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.

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/Historic Combined Summary Stage (2004+).
⋔ Results presented with the CI*Rank statistics help show the usefulness of ranks. For example, ranks for relatively rare diseases or less populated areas may be essentially meaningless because of their large variability, but ranks for more common diseases in densely populated regions can be very useful. More information about methodology can be found on the CI*Rank website.

Φ Rural-Urban Continuum Codes provided by the USDA.
1 Source: National Program of Cancer Registries and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results SEER*Stat Database - United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Cancer Institute. Based on the 2023 submission.
7 Source: SEER November 2023 submission.
8 Source: Incidence data provided by the SEER Program. AAPCs are calculated by the Joinpoint Regression Program and are based on APCs. Data 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. Population counts for denominators are based on Census populations as modified by NCI. The US Population Data File is used with SEER November 2023 data.

Data for the United States does not include data from Indiana.
Data for the United States does not include Puerto Rico.