A Web Tool for Age–Period–Cohort Analysis of Cancer Incidence and Mortality Rates
2014; American Association for Cancer Research; Volume: 23; Issue: 11 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1158/1055-9965.epi-14-0300
ISSN1538-7755
AutoresPhilip S. Rosenberg, David P. Check, William F. Anderson,
Tópico(s)Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection
ResumoAbstract Background: Age–period–cohort (APC) analysis can inform registry-based studies of cancer incidence and mortality, but concerns about statistical identifiability and interpretability, as well as the learning curves of statistical software packages, have limited its uptake. Methods: We implemented a panel of easy-to-interpret estimable APC functions and corresponding Wald tests in R code that can be accessed through a user-friendly Web tool. Results: Input data for the Web tool consist of age-specific numbers of events and person-years over time, in the form of a rate matrix of paired columns. Output functions include model-based estimators of cross-sectional and longitudinal age-specific rates, period and cohort rate ratios that incorporate the overall annual percentage change (net drift), and estimators of the age-specific annual percentage change (local drifts). The Web tool includes built-in examples for teaching and demonstration. User data can be input from a Microsoft Excel worksheet or by uploading a comma-separated–value file. Model outputs can be saved in a variety of formats, including R and Excel. Conclusions: APC methodology can now be carried out through a freely available user-friendly Web tool. The tool can be accessed at http://analysistools.nci.nih.gov/apc/. Impact: The Web tool can help cancer surveillance researchers make important discoveries about emerging cancer trends and patterns. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(11); 2296–302. ©2014 AACR.
Referência(s)