The Branch created a data file from death-certificate diagnoses for the 8 million people who died of cancer in the U.S. from 1950 through 1982. Three-dimensional graphs employing these data are one example of the value of the data collection. Volumes on mortality data according to the state of residence, county, and State Economic Areas have been published. Now surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program data are being used for incidence studies of special population groups and subclassifications of cancers. Experimentation with mapping U.S. cancer mortality by economic subareas that cross state lines revealed some hot- spots not apparent by use of the traditional State Economic Areas (SEAs), which do not cross state boundaries.
