The primary purpose of this project is to describe and evaluate the distribution of cancer occurrence in the United States in terms of age, sex, race, place, and time in order to identify subgroups of the population that offer possibilities for mortality reduction through intervention. Cancer incidence, mortality, and survival rates are analyzed using biostatistical techniques. Kidney cancer cases ascertained among residents of Iowa by the SEER Program are being studied to determine if an increase in incidence can be correlated with the ethnicity of the population. The analysis involves monitoring the rate of disease in separate counties using the sets and cusum techniques. In conjunction with investigators in the Environmental Epidemiology Branch, survival analyses of malignant mesothelioma cases ascertained through the SEER Program were completed. The findings suggest that age, gender and stage of disease should be carefully considered in designing and analyzing clinical trials for people with mesothelioma. In collaboration with investigators in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, age-period-cohort Poisson regression models are being used to analyze lung cancer mortality rates for World War I veterans. A retrospective cohort study, done in collaboration with investigators in the Division of Cancer Etiology, was designed to detect the effects of cancer and its treatment on childhood patients who survived to adulthood. Among Wilms' tumor survivors an excess of miscarriages and low birth weight babies were found compared to their sibling controls. In other analyses, survivors of central nervous system tumors showed significant education and marriage deficits compared to controls.
