Survival Statistic Tab

On the Statistic tab in a Survival session (shown below), there are seven sections: 

• Cancer Survival Measures
• Cum Expected Method
• Method
• Period Survival
• Age Standardize
• Survival Table
• Definition of Cause of Death

Select the statistics and associated parameters appropriate for your session.

Cancer Survival Measures Section

On the Statistic tab in a Survival session, you must choose one of the following survival measures to calculate survival in the Cancer Survival Measures section by clicking on the radio button. Your selection in this section may affect the active selections you can make as you work down the screen. 

• Observed Survival Only – Observed survival is an estimate of the probability of surviving all causes of death for a specified time interval calculated from the cohort of cancer cases. When this is selected the selections in the Cum Expected Method and Definition of Cause of Death sections are inactive.
• Net Survival/Relative Survival – Relative survival is a net survival measure representing cancer survival in the absence of other causes of death, making the Definition of Cause of Death section inactive.
• Net Survival/Cause-specific Survival – Cause-specific survival is a net survival measure representing survival of a specified cause of death in the absence of other causes of death. When this is selected the selections in the Cum Expected Method section is inactive.
• Crude Probability of Death Using Expected Survival – The crude probability of death measures the mortality patterns actually experienced in a cohort of cancer patients on which many possible causes of death are acting simultaneously. This option estimates the probability of dying from cancer and dying from other causes in a cohort of cancer patients. The measure uses expected survival (obtained from the expected life tables) to estimate the probability of dying from other causes in each interval. When this is selected the selections in the Age Standardize section is inactive.
• Crude Probability of Death Using Cause of Death Information – The crude probability of death measures the mortality patterns actually experienced in a cohort of cancer patients on which many possible causes of death are acting simultaneously. This option estimates the probability of dying from cancer and dying from other causes in a cohort of cancer patients. Cause of death information is used to identify those individuals that have died from cancer. When this is selected the selections in the Cum Expected Method and Age Standardize sections are inactive.

If you are unsure of the appropriate survival measure to use for your analysis, see Determining the Appropriate Cancer Survival Measure for a Specific Analysis Measure.

Cum Expected Method Section

If the Cum Expected Method section is active you must select one of the following five methods of calculating Cumulative Expected Survival by clicking on one of the radio buttons: 

• Ederer I
• Ederer II
• Hakulinen Exact
• Hakulinen Simplified
• Net (Pohar-Perme)

The Pohar-Perme Details... link takes you to  the National Cancer Institute website where you can see the calculations for Pohar-Perme.

Method Section

Choose between the Actuarial and Kaplan-Meier methods of calculating survival using the radio buttons.

Period Survival Section

Additionally indicate whether to use Period Survival using the checkbox and entering the CI Level. If doing Relative Survival or Crude Probability of Death Using Cause of Death information, a definition of the cause of death in that section is required. 

If you choose to calculate the observed survival only, or net survival in absence of other causes of death, you will have the option to Age Standardize. If the Age Standardize box is checked, you must select a Standard Population and an Age Variable to use for standardizing.

If you choose to calculate relative survival, or crude probability of death using expected survival, you must also select an expected survival table. If you choose Cause-Specific Survival, or Crude Probability of Death Using Cause of Death information, a definition of cause of death is required.

Age Standardize Section

When the Age Standardize checkbox is checked, you must ensure that the groupings used in your age standardizing variable represent groupings with survival. See Age Standardize for more information.

• Standard Population has a dropdown list from which you can select.
• Age Variable has a dropdown list from which you can select from various Age Recodes and Age Standards.

Survival Table Section

Select an Expected Survival Table from the combo box. See Expected Survival Data for more information.

Definition of Cause of Death Section

The Definition of Cause of Death section is only active when Cause-Specific Survival, or Crude Probability of Death Using Cause of Death are selected. The textbox has a default of death attributable to the cancer diagnosis in this analysis. This can be changed or deleted using the button controls on the right side of the textbox.

The Create... button opens the Definition of Cause of Death dialog, where you can select a variable from the Cause of Death and Follow-up, Multiple Primary Fields, or Survival-Specific folders in the Variables section., change the Operator from is to is not, and select the desired values from the Values section. There is also a Find button that opens the Find Variables dialog.