Misclassification of the actual causes of death and its impact on analysis: A case study in non-small cell lung cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Cumulative incidence of lung cancer deaths (LC-CID) is an important metric to understand cancer prognosis and to determine treatment options. However, credible estimates of LC-CID rely on accurate cause-of-death coding in death certificates. Results from lung cancer screening trials estimated 15% under-reporting and 1% over-reporting of lung cancer deaths due to misclassification. This study investigated the impact of cause-of-death misclassification on the estimation of LC-CID.

Materials and methods

Patients with stage I/II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry were included. LC-CID was estimated using the competing-risk approach in two ways: (1) reporting observed estimates that ignore potential cause-of

SUBMITTER: Tan KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6650158 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature