Cancer Patients’ Survival: Standard Calculation Methods And Some Considerations Regarding Their Interpretation

Abstract

Cancer patients’ survival is an extremely important but complex indicator for assessing regional or global inequalities in diagnosis practices and clinical management of cancer patients. The population-based cancer survival comparisons are available through international projects (i.e. CONCORD, EUROCARE, OECD Health Reports) and online systems (SEER, NORDCAN, SLORA). In our research we aimed to show that noticeable differences in cancer patients’ survival may not always reflect the real inequalities in cancer care, but can also appear due to variations in the applied methodology for relative survival calculation.

Keywords

• cancer survival
• population-based survival analysis
• cancer registries
• relative survival
• bias
• preživetje bolnikov z rakom
• populacijska analiza preživetja
• register raka
• relativno preživetje
• pristranskost