In the previous exercise, Multiple Primary - Standardized Incidence Ratios (MP-SIR) Exercise 1a, you used the MP-SIR session to conduct an analysis of events that occur for the cohort defined by an index record. The events are cancer cases during the person's time at risk (defined by Study Time and Exit Criteria) that match at least one of the events of interest in the analysis (chosen on the Events Tab). In this exercise, create a frequency of the events in two categories: Event 1 and Events 2+.

To get started, extract the session from the matrix created in Exercise 1a.

Key Points

  • All rate files provided with SEER*Stat include malignant cancers only. Therefore, in situ cancers would not be considered events.
  • When specifying the groupings of Event Records on the Statistic Tab, you must include all possible event numbers in the groupings. Use the '+' sign in the last grouping to ensure that all events fall into a category (1,2+ is the correct designation for this exercise).
  • The frequency option allows the user to view the totals of selected events stratified by both event and index variables. It is important to understand that there is a one to many relationship between the number of index records and event records.

Step 1:  Open Exercise 1a's Matrix & Retrieve the Session

  • Start SEER*Stat.
  • From the File menu select Open > MP-SIR File or use the Open file/folder button on the toolbar.
  • Open the file saved in exercise 1a. The filename should be "MPSIR Exercise 1a.smm".
  • If you did not save the output for exercise 1a, you may open our version of the output: Exercise Matrix 1a Results.
  • From the Matrix menu, select Retrieve Session.
  • Two windows should now be open. Close the matrix window containing the results calculated in exercise 1a. You should now have one window labeled "MP-SIR Session-x" where x is the number of MP-SIR session windows that you have created since starting SEER*Stat.

Step 2:  Edit the Parameters (Parameters Tab)

  • Move to the Parameters Tab.
  • Set the Latency field in the Cut-Points for Time-Dependent Variables box to blank. This setting is ignored in a frequency analysis.

Step 3:  Select the Statistic (Statistic Tab)

  • Move to the Statistic Tab.
  • In the Statistic box, select Frequencies. This enables the controls for the For Every Selected Person, Count and Percentages sections.
  • Set the count to Only Non-Index Records. Type "1,2+" in the Event Records field to specify the number of groupings and to ensure that all events fall into one of the groupings.
  • Make sure that "None" is selected for the type of Percentages that will appear in the output.

Step 4:  Create a User-Defined Index Record Variable (Data Dictionary)

For this exercise, you will need to create a user-defined variable based on the "Site recode ICD-O-3/WHO 2008 (for SIRs)" variable.

  1. Open the Data Dictionary
  2. Select "Site recode ICD-O-3/WHO 2008 (for SIRs)" from the "Site and Morphology" category and use the Create button to open the Edit Variable window.
  3. Edit the Name field and give the variable this name: "Site recode ICD-O-3/WHO 2008 (for SIRs) (brain and CNS)".
  4. Delete all the Groupings except the following:
    Brain and Other Nervous System
       Brain
       Cranial Nerves Other Nervous System
  5. When you are finished, click the OK button and close the dictionary.

Step 5:  Set the Display Variables (Table Tab)

  • Notice that the controls are different on the Table Tab when Frequencies are selected on the Statistic Tab. In addition, the Display Variables set in Exercise 1a have been cleared.
  • From the Calculated Variables box, add "Selected Events" to the row dimension.
  • In the Cohort Stratification Variables box, select "Site recode ICD-O-3/WHO 2008 (for SIRs) (brain and CNS)" from the "User-defined" category. Check the Index Record box and add the variable to the column dimension.
  • Add "Event Number" to the column dimension.

Step 6:  Specify a Title (Output Tab)

Enter the following title on the Output Tab:

SEER 9, 1975-2018, MP-SIR Multiple Event Analysis
Event Record Frequencies
Cohort: Malignant Brain and Other Nervous System, First Primaries Only
By Selected Event, Index Record Site, and Event Number
MP-SIR Exercise 1b

Step 7:  Execute SEER*Stat

  • Use the Execute button or select Execute from the Session menu to execute the session. (Execute Offline is a 3rd option available and has been explained in previous exercises.)
  • A dialog will display the progress of the job. When the job completes a new window will open containing the output table or matrix.

Step 8:  The Results Matrix

  • Use the Save As command on the File menu to save the matrix. Enter "MPSIR Exercise 1b" as the filename. SEER*Stat will assign the "smm" extension to indicate that this is a "SEER*Stat MP-SIR Matrix" file.
  • Compare your results to this SEER*Stat matrix file: Exercise Matrix 1b Results.
  • The MP-SIR Results Matrix section of the help system contains more information about the SEER*Stat matrix and its features.