Return to Home Mortality > Table > Interpret

Interpretation of Rate/Trend Comparison by Cancer Data

Death Rate/Trend Comparison by Cancer, 2016-2020

Virginia Counties versus United States

All Cancer Sites

All Races, Male

Sorted by priority index

Explanation of Column Headers

State/County - The site and sex combination for this comparison.

Priority Index 1 - The priority index is based upon the direction of the trend and the rate comparison. An index of 1 is the highest priority - that trend is rising and the rate is already higher. An index of 9 is the lowest priority - the trend is falling and the rate is already lower.

Recent Trends - This is an interpretation of the AAPC:

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


Line by Line Interpretation of the Report


United States


Virginia


Covington City


Martinsville City


Buckingham County


Dickenson County


Franklin City


Galax City


Lexington City


Norfolk City


Russell County


Staunton City


Accomack County


Amelia County


Bedford City and County


Bristol City


Brunswick County


Campbell County


Charlotte County


Chesapeake City


Colonial Heights City


Danville City


Fairfax City


Giles County


Gloucester County


Greensville County


Halifax County with South Boston City


Hampton City


Henry County


Hopewell City


Isle of Wight County


Lancaster County


Lynchburg City


Mecklenburg County


Newport News City


Northampton County


Nottoway County


Orange County


Page County


Petersburg City


Pittsylvania County


Portsmouth City


Prince Edward County


Richmond County


Roanoke City


Salem City


Scott County


Shenandoah County


Smyth County


Suffolk City


Sussex County


Tazewell County


Warren County


Waynesboro City


Westmoreland County


Wise County


Craig County


Floyd County


Fredericksburg City


Madison County


Nelson County


Radford City


Williamsburg City


Alleghany County and Clifton Forge City


Amherst County


Appomattox County


Augusta County


Bath County


Botetourt County


Buchanan County


Buena Vista City


Caroline County


Carroll County


Charles City County


Charlottesville City


Chesterfield County


Clarke County


Culpeper County


Cumberland County


Dinwiddie County


Emporia City


Essex County


Falls Church City


Fauquier County


Fluvanna County


Franklin County


Frederick County


Goochland County


Grayson County


Greene County


Hanover County


Harrisonburg City


Henrico County


James City County


King George County


King William County


King and Queen County


Lee County


Louisa County


Lunenburg County


Manassas City


Mathews County


Middlesex County


Montgomery County


New Kent County


Northumberland County


Norton City


Patrick County


Poquoson City


Powhatan County


Prince George County


Pulaski County


Rappahannock County


Richmond City


Roanoke County


Rockbridge County


Rockingham County


Southampton County


Spotsylvania County


Stafford County


Surry County


Virginia Beach City


Washington County


Winchester City


Wythe County


Albemarle County


Alexandria City


Arlington County


Fairfax County


Loudoun County


Manassas Park City


Prince William County


York County


Bland County Highland County

Notes:
Created by statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov on 03/28/2024 3:09 pm.

Trend2
     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.
Rate Comparison
     Above     when 95% confident the rate is above and Rate Ratio3 > 1.10
     Similar     when unable to conclude above or below with confidence.
     Below     when 95% confident the rate is below and Rate Ratio3 < 0.90

** Data are too sparse to provide stable estimates of annual rates needed to calculate trend.
1 Priority indices were created by ordering from rates that are rising and above the comparison rate to rates that are falling and below the comparison rate.
2 Recent trend in death rates is usually an Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) based on the APCs calculated by Joinpoint Version 4.8.0.0. Due to data availability issues, the time period and/or calculation method used in the calculation of the trends may differ for selected geographic areas.
3 Rate ratio is the county rate divided by the US rate. Previous versions of this table used one-year rates for states and five-year rates for counties. As of June 2018, only five-year rates are used.
Source: 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 US Population Data File is used with mortality data.
Note: 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. Suppression is used to avoid misinterpretation when rates are unstable.

State Cancer Registries may provide more current or more local data. Data presented on the State Cancer Profiles Web Site may differ from statistics reported by the State Cancer Registries (for more information).
Trend for the following could not be reliably determined due to small number of deaths per year:
Bland County, Highland County


Interpret Rankings provides insight into interpreting cancer 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.