Return to Home Mortality > Table > Interpret

Interpretation of Rate/Trend Comparison by Cancer Data

Death Rate/Trend Comparison by Cancer, 2016-2020

Pennsylvania Counties versus United States

Liver & Bile Duct

All Races, Both Sexes

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


Pennsylvania


Dauphin County


Allegheny County


Beaver County


Berks County


Blair County


Butler County


Cambria County


Cumberland County


Delaware County


Fayette County


Lackawanna County


Lawrence County


Lehigh County


Luzerne County


Mercer County


Monroe County


Montgomery County


Northampton County


Schuylkill County


Somerset County


Venango County


Washington County


Westmoreland County


York County


Bucks County


Chester County


Erie County


Lancaster County


Philadelphia County


Armstrong County


Carbon County


Franklin County


Indiana County


Crawford County


Lebanon County


Pike County


Adams County Bedford County Bradford County Centre County Clearfield County Columbia County Elk County Greene County Huntingdon County Jefferson County Lycoming County McKean County Northumberland County Perry County Susquehanna County Tioga County Warren County Wayne County Cameron County Clarion County Clinton County Forest County Fulton County Juniata County Mifflin County Montour County Potter County Snyder County Sullivan County Union County Wyoming County

Notes:
Created by statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov on 04/27/2024 1:48 am.

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 has been suppressed to ensure confidentiality and stability of rate and trend estimates.
** 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).

Data for the following has been suppressed to ensure confidentiality and stability of rate and trend estimates:
Cameron County, Clarion County, Clinton County, Forest County, Fulton County, Juniata County, Mifflin County, Montour County, Potter County, Snyder County, Sullivan County, Union County, Wyoming County

Trend for the following could not be reliably determined due to small number of deaths per year:
Adams County, Bedford County, Bradford County, Centre County, Clearfield County, Columbia County, Elk County, Greene County, Huntingdon County, Jefferson County, Lycoming County, McKean County, Northumberland County, Perry County, Susquehanna County, Tioga County, Warren County, Wayne 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.