Survival: Examines how long after diagnosis people live. Cancer survival is measured in a number of different ways depending on the intended purpose. Several examples of survival statistics are listed below.
Survival, Cause-specific: A measure of net survival that is calculated by using the cause of death listed on death certificates to estimate the proportion of deaths due to cancer.
Survival, Net: Survival from cancer that is calculated in the absence of other causes of death. It represents a hypothetical situation where the only possible cause of death is cancer. Can be calculated as either relative survival or cause-specific survival.
Survival, Observed: An estimate of the probability of surviving all causes of death for a specified time interval calculated from the cohort of cancer cases. Observed survival does not consider cause of death, it simply looks at who is alive and who is not. Sometimes referred to as overall survival .
Survival, Period: A newer method for calculating survival that uses only information from the most recent calendar years available. This method is believed to give a more recent estimate than previously-used methods and may take newer treatment modalities into account more effectively than other methods.
Survival, Relative: A measure of net survival that is calculated by comparing observed (overall) survival with expected survival from a comparable set of people that do not have cancer to measure the excess mortality that is associated with a cancer diagnosis.
You didn't know there were so many ways of surviving, did you?
I thought the intended purpose was to... SURVIVE.
The only one definition that counts!
sur·viv·al (sər-vī'vəl) noun.
- The act or process of surviving.
- The fact of having survived.
- Surviving long enough to go to 5th grade, graduate high school & college, etc.
SEER Glossary of Statistical Terms – National Cancer Institute/NIH
