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Interpretation of Rate/Trend Comparison by Cancer Data

Death Rate/Trend Comparison by Cancer, 2016-2020

North Carolina Counties versus United States

Breast

All Races, Female

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


North Carolina


Vance County


Anson County


Nash County


Robeson County


Cumberland County


Wayne County


Alexander County


Bertie County


Burke County


Cabarrus County


Caldwell County


Caswell County


Hertford County


Hoke County


Macon County


Martin County


McDowell County


Northampton County


Onslow County


Pasquotank County


Rutherford County


Scotland County


Stokes County


Watauga County


Alamance County


Beaufort County


Bladen County


Brunswick County


Buncombe County


Carteret County


Catawba County


Chatham County


Cherokee County


Cleveland County


Columbus County


Craven County


Davidson County


Duplin County


Durham County


Edgecombe County


Forsyth County


Franklin County


Gaston County


Granville County


Guilford County


Halifax County


Harnett County


Haywood County


Henderson County


Iredell County


Johnston County


Lenoir County


Lincoln County


Mecklenburg County


Moore County


New Hanover County


Orange County


Pender County


Person County


Pitt County


Randolph County


Richmond County


Rockingham County


Rowan County


Sampson County


Surry County


Transylvania County


Union County


Wake County


Wilkes County


Wilson County


Yadkin County


Stanly County


Dare County Davie County Jackson County Lee County Mitchell County Montgomery County Polk County Warren County Yancey County Alleghany County Ashe County Avery County Camden County Chowan County Clay County Currituck County Gates County Graham County Greene County Hyde County Jones County Madison County Pamlico County Perquimans County Swain County Tyrrell County Washington County

Notes:
Created by statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov on 03/29/2024 4:53 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:
Alleghany County, Ashe County, Avery County, Camden County, Chowan County, Clay County, Currituck County, Gates County, Graham County, Greene County, Hyde County, Jones County, Madison County, Pamlico County, Perquimans County, Swain County, Tyrrell County, Washington County

Trend for the following could not be reliably determined due to small number of deaths per year:
Dare County, Davie County, Jackson County, Lee County, Mitchell County, Montgomery County, Polk County, Warren County, Yancey 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.