This document is the ninth edition of the Indiana State Cancer Registry's incidence report. It provides valuable information to address issues related to cancer, one of the Indiana State Department of Health public health priorities.
The 1998-2002 data in this report serve as a means of measuring progress toward reaching the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing cancer incidence in Indiana. Because of the limitations described within the report, it should not be regarded as a definitive description of cancer incidence in Indiana.
The Indiana State Cancer Registry was established for the purpose of recording cases of malignant disease and compiling necessary and appropriate information in order to conduct epidemiological studies of cancer and apply appropriate preventive and control measures.
The primary measure associated with assessing the impact of cancer in the general population is the number of new cases per year divided by the number of persons at risk in the population (incidence rate). All incidence rates in this report are age-adjusted to the 2000 United States standard million. Age-adjustment minimizes the effect of a difference in age distributions when comparing rates.
By convention, incidence rates of invasive cancers in Sections 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and Tables 2-2 and 2-3 in Section 2 exclude basal and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin and carcinomas in situ (with the exception of bladder cancer in situ), so that state and national rates can be compared. Table 2-1 in Section 2 and Tables 3.n-7 in Section 3 include all invasive and in situ cancers, except basal and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin, since these tables are concerned with cancers diagnosed by stage. Refer to the Technical Notes in Appendix B for further details.
By using this information to target at-risk populations, the Indiana State Department of Health will continue to fulfill its mission of promoting health and wellness among people in Indiana through planning, prevention, service, and education.
