Data Documentation & Variable Recodes

The following resources provide variable definitions and other documentation related to reporting and using SEER data.

• Behavior Recode for Analysis - definition of the variable and how it was created for each data release.
• Cancer Stage Variables - stage variables based on AJCC and changes to SEER staging definitions over time.
• Cancer Type-Specific Recodes - includes site-specific data item recodes.
• Cause of Death Recode - site groupings based on the International Classification of Diseases.
• Cause-specific Death Classification - for use in cause-specific survival calculations.
• Incidence Site Recode Variables
  • AYA Site Recode - adapted classification scheme for tumors of adolescents and young adults (AYA).
  • Brain/CNS Recode - based on the 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System (CNS).
  • International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC) - definitions based on site and morphology coded according to ICD-O-2 or ICD-O-3.
  • Lymphoma Subtype Recode - based on a classification scheme of lymphoid neoplasms.
  • Rare Cancer Classification - table of recodes for rare cancer sites.
  • Site Recode - major cancer sites based on the primary site and histology.
• Insurance Recode - derived from the NAACCR field, Primary Payer at Diagnosis.
• Months Survived Based on Complete Dates - an algorithm that uses day information in the survival calculation.
• Policy for Calculating Hispanic Mortality - used to exclude data from states for years when data on Hispanic and non-Hispanic mortality may be unreliable.
• Race and Hispanic Ethnicity Changes - recommendations for producing statistics by race and hispanic ethnicity and definition of the available race and origin variables.
• Site Specific Surgery (1983-1997) - specifies information on surgery during first course of therapy whether it was cancer-directed or not.
• Tumor Size Over Time Recode - used to track tumor size over a period of time.

Documentation for SEER Data - information about other variables used in the most recent SEER data release.