Incorporating competing risk theory into evaluations of changes in cancer survival: making the most of cause of death and routinely linked sociodemographic data

Wright, Cameron M.; Nowak, Anna K.; Halkett, Georgia; Moorin, Rachael E.

doi:10.1186/s12889-020-09084-8

Table 1 Characteristics of the cohort

From: Incorporating competing risk theory into evaluations of changes in cancer survival: making the most of cause of death and routinely linked sociodemographic data

Characteristic		Time period of diagnosis												p value*
		1983–1987		1988–1992		1993–1997		1998–2002		2003–2007		2008–2011
		n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Major cancer types combined
Follow up in years	Median (IQR)	2.50 (13.78)		3.58 (17.47)		6.01 (14.47)		6.94 (9.92)		4.79 (5.38)		1.36 (2.01)		< 0.001
Number of comorbidities at Dx	Mean (SD)							1.87 (1.82)		1.70 (1.85)		1.51 (1.73)		< 0.001
Sex	Female	9383	47.2	11,730	47.9	13,804	44.1	16,155	46.1	18,528	43.8	16,959	42.8	< 0.001
Age group at Dx	0-10 yrs	113	0.6	117	0.5	128	0.4	145	0.4	129	0.3	131	0.3
	11-17 yrs	77	0.4	72	0.3	123	0.4	108	0.3	118	0.3	90	0.2
	18-24 yrs	246	1.2	239	1.0	272	0.9	277	0.8	313	0.7	262	0.7
	25-44 yrs	2132	10.7	2746	11.2	3074	9.8	3341	9.5	3441	8.1	3006	7.6
	45-64 yrs	6635	33.4	7859	32.1	10,151	32.4	11,983	34.2	15,297	36.2	14,856	37.5
	65-84 yrs	9676	48.7	11,920	48.7	15,553	49.7	16,596	47.4	19,926	47.1	18,230	46.0
	85+ yrs	998	5.0	1524	6.2	1984	6.3	2585	7.4	3081	7.3	3082	7.8	< 0.001
Total		19,882	10.3	24,477	12.7	31,285	16.2	35,035	18.2	42,305	22.0	39,657	20.6
Female breast cancer
Follow up in years	Median (IQR)	8.81 (21.05)		14.01 (16.11)		14.43 (10.55)		10.72 (4.12)		5.93 (2.81)		1.77 (1.97)		< 0.001
Number of comorbidities at Dx	Mean (SD)							1.14 (1.43)		0.95 (1.37)		0.85 (1.28)		< 0.001
Age group at Dx	25-44 yrs	463	17.8	634	18.4	710	16.2	737	14.1	776	13.3	694	12.6
	45-64 yrs	1071	41.2	1497	43.5	2025	46.2	2689	51.3	3110	53.4	2821	51.0
	65-84 yrs	939	36.1	1129	32.8	1441	32.9	1567	29.9	1662	28.6	1720	31.1
	85+ yrs	122	4.7	179	5.2	197	4.5	237	4.5	270	4.6	287	5.2	< 0.001
Total		2599	9.6	3444	12.8	4379	16.2	5238	19.4	5820	21.5	5527	20.5
Colorectal cancer
Follow up in years	Median (IQR)	2.56 (12.68)		3.50 (13.83)		4.16 (13.48)		5.69 (9.45)		4.62 (4.99)		1.42 (1.98)		< 0.001
Number of comorbidities at Dx	Mean (SD)							2.24 (1.97)		2.16 (1.95)		2.11 (1.85)		0.49
Sex	Female	1476	47.8	1711	47.7	1910	44.9	2202	44.2	2418	44.6	2193	42.9	< 0.001
Age group at Dx	25-44 yrs	130	4.2	171	4.8	182	4.3	213	4.3	207	3.8	223	4.4
	45-64 yrs	1068	34.6	1172	32.7	1373	32.3	1528	30.7	1751	32.3	1680	32.9
	65-84 yrs	1692	54.8	1969	54.9	2322	54.6	2719	54.6	2910	53.7	2670	52.3
	85+ yrs	193	6.3	271	7.6	369	8.7	510	10.2	534	9.8	522	10.2	< 0.001
Total		3088	11.7	3586	13.6	4254	16.1	4978	18.8	5423	20.5	5110	19.3
Lung cancer
Follow up in years	Median (IQR)	0.44 (1.09)		0.53 (1.27)		0.53 (1.29)		0.59 (1.34)		0.64 (1.65)		0.55 (1.10)		< 0.001
Number of comorbidities at Dx	Mean (SD)							2.16 (1.85)		2.01 (1.87)		1.87 (1.79)		< 0.001
Sex	Females	711	25.0	911	29.4	1056	31.5	1326	34.8	1632	37.8	1566	40.6	< 0.001
Age group at Dx	25-44 yrs	59	2.1	70	2.3	65	1.9	79	2.1	63	1.5	65	1.7
	45-64 yrs	1096	38.6	1036	33.4	951	28.3	1027	26.9	1146	26.5	1073	27.8
	65-84 yrs	1596	56.2	1857	59.9	2137	63.7	2431	63.7	2753	63.8	2292	59.4
	85+ yrs	89	3.1	136	4.4	198	5.9	272	7.1	348	8.1	418	10.8	< 0.001
Total		2841	13.3	3102	14.6	3357	15.8	3814	17.9	4317	20.3	3857	18.1
Prostate Cancer
Follow up in years	Mean (SD)	5.55 (6.11)		6.98 (6.50)		9.89 (6.04)		8.04 (4.07)		5.44 (2.14)		1.90 (1.16)		< 0.001
Number of comorbidities at Dx	Mean (SD)							1.92 (1.72)		1.35 (1.68)		1.04 (1.42)		< 0.001
Age group at Dx	25-44 yrs	5	0.3	< 5	0.2	6	0.1	14	0.3	36	0.5	49	0.6
	45-64 yrs	248	14.1	402	15.5	1408	26.0	1526	32.6	2875	37.4	3258	41.1
	65-84 yrs	1364	77.3	1911	73.8	3680	67.9	2822	60.2	4378	56.9	4258	53.8
	85+ yrs	147	8.3	272	10.5	323	6.0	322	6.9	408	5.3	352	4.4	< 0.001
Total		1765	5.9	2589	8.6	5417	18.0	4684	15.6	7697	25.6	7919	26.3
Pancreatic cancer
Follow up in years	Median (IQR)	0.18 (0.48)		0.23 (0.49)		0.31 (0.63)		0.35 (0.73)		0.38 (0.83)		0.44 (0.91)		< 0.001
Number of comorbidities at Dx	Mean (SD)							2.33 (1.94)		2.41 (2.12)		2.03 (1.89)
Sex	Females	218	46.0	261	49.3	331	47.8	413	51.1	504	49.0	448	46.7	0.42
Age group at Dx	25-44 yrs	15	3.2	15	2.8	23	3.3	28	3.5	28	2.7	27	2.8
	45-64 yrs	124	26.2	138	26.1	167	24.1	215	26.6	306	29.7	268	27.9
	65-84 yrs	313	66.0	321	60.7	425	61.4	461	57.1	566	55.0	530	55.3
	85+ yrs	22	4.6	53	10.0	76	11.0	101	12.5	129	12.5	134	14.0	< 0.001
Total		474	10.6	529	11.8	692	15.4	808	18.0	1029	22.9	959	21.4
Grade IV glioma
Follow up in years	Median (IQR)	0.42 (0.89)		0.48 (0.81)		0.42 (0.79)		0.52 (1.49)		0.59 (1.08)		0.64 (0.84)		0.0170
Number of comorbidities at Dx	Mean (SD)							2.39 (1.81)		2.66 (2.02)		2.75 (1.95)		0.14
Sex	Females	71	45.8	99	44.8	107	42.8	119	38.3	126	38.2	118	43.7	0.34
Age group at Dx	25-44 yrs	20	12.9	20	9.0	20	8.0	28	9.0	16	4.8	12	4.4
	45-64 yrs	71	45.8	109	49.3	104	41.6	131	42.1	146	44.2	118	43.7
	65-84 yrs	61	39.4	81	36.7	110	44.0	137	44.1	154	46.7	130	48.1
	85+ yrs	0	0.0	< 5	1.4	10	4.0	11	3.5	10	3.0	7	2.6	0.018
Total		155	10.1	221	14.4	250	16.3	311	20.2	330	21.5	270	17.6

Dx Diagnosis, SD Standard deviation, IQR Interquartile range, n number of cases, % percentage of total cancer type as specified
*Two-sided p values calculated using Chi squared for categorical variables and Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables. This assessed changes between variables over the time period
Cell counts with less than 5 cases are shown as < 5 to preserve anonymity
Note the number of individuals aged under 25 years of age is not shown for the individual cancer types due to very low numbers

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