| 1. |
Data sources: Statistics Canada - Canadian Cancer
Registry (CCR), National Cancer Incidence Reporting System, Canadian Vital
Statistics (Death Database), and life tables |
| 2. |
World Health Organization, International Classification
of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition (ICD-O-3). |
| 3. |
Population-based survival estimates are based
on the experience of a heterogeneous group of people and as such are useful
"average" outcome indicators. They do not necessarily reflect a person's chances
of surviving five years after diagnosis nor do the accompanying confidence
intervals represent the range of possible prognoses for individual patients.
|
| 4. |
The results presented in this table reflect
the survival experience of those diagnosed from 1992 to 1994 and
followed up to 1999. |
| 5. |
Observed survival is defined as the proportion
of patients dying from any cause in a given time period. |
| 6. |
Relative survival is defined as the ratio of
the observed survival for a group of cancer patients to the survival that
would have been expected for members of the general population, assumed to
be practically free of the cancer of interest, who have the same main factors
affecting patient survival (sex, age, place of residence) as the cancer patients. For
example, women diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 were, on average, 82%
as likely to live for another five years as were women of the same age and
in the same province at that time. |
| 7. |
Analysis was conducted using the Ederer II method.
Source: Ederer F, Heise H. The effect of eliminating deaths from cancer on
general population survival rates, methodological note 11. National Cancer
Institute, End Results Evaluation section, August 1959. |
| 8. |
The analysis is restricted to cases that were
the first primary cancer for the individual. The following cases are excluded:
subjects with an unknown year of birth or death; subjects under 15 or
over 99 years of age at diagnosis; subjects diagnosed through autopsy
only or death certificate only. |
| 9. |
The 95% confidence interval (CI) illustrates
the degree of variability associated with an estimate. Wide confidence intervals
indicate high variability, thus, these estimates should be interpreted with
due caution. When estimates are based on a small number of cases, it is more
likely that observed differences are due to random, rather than systematic
influences. |
| 10. |
Age-standardized survival estimates are interpretable
as the overall survival estimate that would have occurred, if the age distribution
of the patient group under study had been the same as that of the standard
population. Unless they have been age-standardized to the same population,
survival estimates from other sources should not be compared with those presented
here. |
| 11. |
Estimates were age-standardized using the direct
method. Age-specific estimates for a given cancer were weighted to the age
distribution of persons diagnosed with that cancer from 1992 to 2001 (Canadian
Cancer Registry, November 21, 2003). |
| 12. |
Only deaths within the first five years of
follow-up are considered. |
| 13. |
Some provincial/territorial cancer registries
differ with respect to methods of data collection and registration of multiple
primaries (more than one diagnosis of a primary cancer). There are also variations
in the percentage of "death certificate only" (DCO) cases and the aggressiveness
of follow-up, which varies by province or territory. |
| 14. |
Age-standardized period (three years of cases)
estimates were suppressed (F) for a given site/sex combination, if more than 40%
of the age-specific groups for that combination had less than 10 cases
or if any of the age-specific estimates used in their calculation were based
on fewer than five cases. |
| 15. |
Excluding morphology types M-9590-M-9989. |
| 16. |
Québec data were not included because
the method of ascertaining the date of diagnosis of cancer cases differs substantially
from that of other provincial/territorial cancer registries. |
| 17. |
Results for the territories are not shown because
of an insufficient number of cases for analysis. Cases from these areas are,
however, included in the national estimates. |
| 18. |
The following standard symbols are used in
Statistics Canada publications: (..) for figures not available for a specific
reference period and (...) for figures not applicable. |
| 19. |
CANSIM table number 01031530. |