A comparison of cancer survival by time period of diagnosis in Hawaii, 1960-1974.

The authors compared the risk of dying from site-specific cancer within five years after diagnosis for Hawaii residents diagnosed in 1960-1964, 1965-1969, and 1970-1974. Twelve cancer sites were analyzed with adjustments for age at diagnosis and ethnicity by a multivariate method. Four of these sites were adjusted for sex as well. The adjusted relative risk for site-specific cancer death was significantly greater than 1.0 (P less than 0.05) when patients diagnosed in 1960-1969 were compared with those diagnosed in 1970-1974 for the following sites: stomach, rectum (males), lung, prostate, leukemia, and lymphoma. The adjusted relative risk was greater than 1.0, but not significantly greater, for the remaining cancer sites: colon, rectum (females), liver, pancreas, breast, corpus uteri, and ovary. These results indicate that, for several cancer sites, the risk of cancer death has significantly declined in Hawaii during 1960-1974. However, specific reasons for this improvement in cancer prognosis were not determinable from the available data.