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. 2017 Feb 5:39:e2017006.
doi: 10.4178/epih.e2017006. eCollection 2017.

Cancer mortality-to-incidence ratio as an indicator of cancer management outcomes in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries

Eunji Choi  1 , Sangeun Lee  1 , Bui Cam Nhung  1 , Mina Suh  2 , Boyoung Park  1   2 , Jae Kwan Jun  1   2 , Kui Son Choi  1   2
Affiliations

Cancer mortality-to-incidence ratio as an indicator of cancer management outcomes in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries

Eunji Choi et al. Epidemiol Health. .

Abstract

Objectives: Assessing long-term success and efficiency is an essential part of evaluating cancer control programs. The mortality-to-incidence ratio (MIR) can serve as an insightful indicator of cancer management outcomes for individual nations. By calculating MIRs for the top five cancers in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the current study attempted to characterize the outcomes of national cancer management policies according to the health system ranking of each country.

Methods: The MIRs for the five most burdensome cancers globally (lung, colorectal, prostate, stomach, and breast) were calculated for all 34 OECD countries using 2012 GLOBOCAN incidence and mortality statistics. Health system rankings reported by the World Health Organization in 2000 were updated with relevant information when possible. A linear regression model was created, using MIRs as the dependent variable and health system rankings as the independent variable.

Results: The linear relationships between MIRs and health system rankings for the five cancers were significant, with coefficients of determination ranging from 49 to 75% when outliers were excluded. A clear outlier, Korea reported lower-than-predicted MIRs for stomach and colorectal cancer, reflecting its strong national cancer control policies, especially cancer screening.

Conclusions: The MIR was found to be a practical measure for evaluating the long-term success of cancer surveillance and the efficacy of cancer control programs, especially cancer screening. Extending the use of MIRs to evaluate other cancers may also prove useful.

Keywords: Delivery of health care; Early detection of cancer; Incidence; Mortality; Neoplasms.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare for this study.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Mortality-to-incidence ratio (MIR) for the five most common cancers (A: lung, B: colorectal, C: prostate, D: stomach, and E: breast) vs. health system ranking for all 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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