Risk factors for becoming homeless among a cohort of veterans who served in the era of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

Objectives: In this population-based cohort study, we assessed baseline risk factors for homelessness, including the role of service in the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts, among a large cohort of recent veterans.

Methods: Data for this study came from administrative records for 310,685 veterans who separated from active military duty from July 1, 2005, to September 30, 2006. We used survival analysis methods to determine incidence rates and risk factors for homelessness, based on baseline data for military factors, demographic characteristics, and diagnoses of behavioral health disorders and traumatic brain injury.

Estimating average annual per cent change in trend analysis.

Trends in incidence or mortality rates over a specified time interval are usually described by the conventional annual per cent change (cAPC), under the assumption of a constant rate of change. When this assumption does not hold over the entire time interval, the trend may be characterized using the annual per cent changes from segmented analysis (sAPCs). This approach assumes that the change in rates is constant over each time partition defined by the transition points, but varies among different time partitions.

Impact of socioeconomic status on cancer incidence and stage at diagnosis: selected findings from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results: National Longitudinal Mortality Study.

Background: Population-based cancer registry data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are mainly based on medical records and administrative information. Individual-level socioeconomic data are not routinely reported by cancer registries in the United States because they are not available in patient hospital records. The U.

Treatment of a population based sample of men diagnosed with testicular cancer in the United States.

Objectives: Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men age 25 to 35 years. We examined therapy, compliance with guidelines, and survival in a population based sample of men newly diagnosed with testicular cancer.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) patterns of care data on 702 men diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1999.

Treatment and survival in a population-based sample of patients diagnosed with gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Aim: To examine the extent of use of specific therapies in clinical practice, and their relationship to therapies validated in clinical trials.

Methods: The US National Cancer Institutes' Patterns of Care study was used to examine therapies and survival of patients diagnosed in 2001 with histologically-confirmed gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (n = 1356). The study re-abstracted data and verified therapy with treating physicians for a population-based stratified random sample.

A new method to evaluate the completeness of case ascertainment by a cancer registry.

Background: Epidemiologic research into cancer and subsequent decision making to reduce the cancer burden in the population are dependent on the quality of available data. The more reliable the data, the more confident we can be that the decisions made would have the desired effect in the population. The North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) certifies population-based cancer registries, ensuring uniformity of data quality.

Is mode of breast cancer detection associated with cancer treatment in the United States?

Background: The prognosis for women who have breast cancer detected by mammography is more favorable than that for women who have breast cancer detected by other methods, even after controlling for tumor characteristics. In the current study, the authors explored whether detection by mammography was associated with greater use of guideline-consistent breast cancer treatment among patients with recently diagnosed breast cancer in the United States.

Methods: The authors evaluated the association between mode of breast cancer detection (mammography vs other) and use of guideline-consistent treatment in 1006 women aged > or =40 years who were diagnosed in 2000.

Patterns of care for cervical cancer patients treated in the U.S. military health care system.

Objective: To determine whether women diagnosed with cervical cancer within the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Military Health Care System received treatment within standard guidelines and whether survival was influenced by implementation of these guidelines.

Rising incidence rates of breast carcinoma with micrometastatic lymph node involvement.

We investigated the increased incidence of early-stage breast cancer with micrometastatic lymph node involvement. Breast cancer incidence trends from 1990 through 2002 in the US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program catchment area were analyzed. Joinpoint regression was used to show the annual percentage change (APC) in breast cancer incidence trends.

Efficient interval estimation for age-adjusted cancer rates.

The age-adjusted cancer rates are defined as the weighted average of the age-specific cancer rates, where the weights are positive, known, and normalized so that their sum is 1. Fay and Feuer developed a confidence interval for a single age-adjusted rate based on the gamma approximation. Fay used the gamma approximations to construct an F interval for the ratio of two age-adjusted rates.

Quality of race, Hispanic ethnicity, and immigrant status in population-based cancer registry data: implications for health disparity studies.

Population-based cancer registry data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program at the National Cancer Institute are based on medical records and administrative information. Although SEER data have been used extensively in health disparities research, the quality of information concerning race, Hispanic ethnicity, and immigrant status has not been systematically evaluated. The quality of this information was determined by comparing SEER data with self-reported data among 13,538 cancer patients diagnosed between 1973-2001 in the SEER--National Longitudinal Mortality Study linked database.

Patterns of care for adjuvant therapy in a random population-based sample of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

Objectives: Over the past decade, clinical trials have proved the efficacy of treatments for colorectal cancer (CRC). This study tracks dissemination of these treatments for patients diagnosed with stage II and III disease and compares risk of death for those who received guideline therapy to those who did not.

Methods: We conducted a stratified randomly sampled, population-based study of CRC treatment trends in the United States.

Estimating the variance of cancer prevalence from population-based registries.

Cancer prevalence is the proportion of people in a population diagnosed with cancer in the past and still alive. One way to estimate prevalence is via population-based registries, where data on diagnosis and life status of all incidence cases occurring in the covered population are collected. In this paper, a method to estimate the complete prevalence and its variance from population-based registries is presented.

Community-based use of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for early-stage breast cancer: 1987-2000.

Purpose: We describe trends in the use of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy by nodal and estrogen receptor (ER) status in women with early-stage breast cancer.

Methods: Cases were randomly sampled from the population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program and physician verified treatment was examined. A total of 9,481 women, aged 20 years and older, diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 1987 to 1991, 1995, and 2000 were included in the study.

Insurance status and the use of guideline therapy in the treatment of selected cancers.

Purpose: This study estimates the impact of type of insurance coverage on the receipt of guideline therapy in a population-based sample of cancer patients treated in the community.

Patients And Methods: Patients (n = 7,134) from the National Cancer Institute's Patterns of Care studies who were newly diagnosed with 11 different types of cancer were analyzed. The definition of guideline therapy was based on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network treatment recommendations.

Patterns of care in a population-based random sample of patients diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

New therapies have enhanced treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), but extent of treatment use in community practice is unknown. We conducted a population-based study of NHL patients diagnosed in 1999 with histologically confirmed NHL (n = 947) residing in areas covered by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. We performed analyses to study factors associated with receipt of chemotherapy, radiation, and rituximab, and examine factors associated with mortality.

Tissues from population-based cancer registries: a novel approach to increasing research potential.

Population-based cancer registries, such as those included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results (SEER) Program, offer tremendous research potential beyond traditional surveillance activities. We describe the expansion of SEER registries to gather formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue from cancer patients on a population basis. Population-based tissue banks have the advantage of providing an unbiased sampling frame for evaluating the public health impact of genes or protein targets that may be used for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes in defined communities.

CK20 and CK7 protein expression in colorectal cancer: demonstration of the utility of a population-based tissue microarray.

The ability to use archival tissue to test externally valid hypotheses of carcinogenesis is dependent on the availability of population-based samples of cancer tissue. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) provide an efficient format for developing population-based samples of tissue. A TMA was constructed consisting of archival tissue from patients diagnosed with invasive colorectal cancer in the state of Hawaii in 1995.

Pre-operative imaging, surgery and adjuvant therapy for women diagnosed with cancer of the corpus uteri in community practice in the United States.

Introduction: Non-Hispanic black women are less often diagnosed with endometrial cancer than are non-Hispanic white women, but are more likely to die of their disease. Reasons for this disparity in outcome are not well understood.

Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results Program data were used to sample women newly diagnosed in 1998 with cancer of the corpus uteri.

Untreated cervical cancer in the United States.

Objective: To evaluate treatment patterns, including lack of treatment, among women diagnosed with cervical cancer in the United States.

Methods: Using the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, we identified 13,715 women diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer between 1992 and 1999 and eligible for inclusion in the study.

Results: Nearly 9% of women diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer received no therapy for their disease.

Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1975-2001, with a special feature regarding survival.

Background: The American Cancer Society (ACS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) collaborate annually to provide updated information regarding cancer occurrence and trends in the U.S. This year's report features a special section on cancer survival.

Epidemiology of primary Merkel cell carcinoma in the United States.

Background: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare, aggressive skin cancer.

Objective: We sought to describe primary MCC incidence trends, epidemiology, and predictors of survival.

Methods: The population covered by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program was analyzed as a prospective cohort.

Trends in surgery and chemotherapy for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the United States.

Purpose: We examined patterns of care in a population-based sample of 601 ovarian cancer patients diagnosed in 1991, and a sample of 566 women was selected in 1996 to examine trends in care.

Patients And Methods: Patient cases were sampled from within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. Medical records were reabstracted, and treatment data were verified with the treating physician.