The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program of the National Cancer Institute will expand its population coverage by adding new areas of the United States to its surveillance portfolio at the end of this year.
The SEER program cancer incidence and survival data now come from 11 population-based cancer registries and three supplemental registries that cover approximately 14% of the U.S. population.
Brenda K. Edwards, Ph.D., associate director of NCIs Surveillance Research Program, said a major goal of the expansion is to include people who are Hispanic, but non-Mexican, such as Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans. She said that Mexican Americans, who represent about 60% of all Hispanics, have a good representation in the program at the moment.
"The other areas where we have limited coverage are in the southeastern part of the United States, especially rural areas with African American communities," said Edwards. "We are also targeting residents of other rural areas with high levels of poverty."
The program staff also hopes to increase its coverage of American Indians. "Aside from the individuals identified in New Mexico and Arizona, wed like to have a broader group," she said. "This may be a little difficult because the American Indian population is spread across the United States."
The primary reason SEER is expanding is "to improve our coverage and our data system for various populations so that we have a great deal of diversity and geographic representation," Edwards said.
The expansion is being coordinated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC began in 1994 to provide funding for state health departments to either enhance or develop population-based registries. Both the NCI and CDC have discussed and are working towards the goal of having both programs work smoothly in the same state.
"We want to continue coordination of our respective programs to minimize any confusion on the part of those state registries that will receive funding from both federal agencies," said Edwards. With financial support from the CDC, more states have been able to improve their data quality and timely reporting.
"The expansion will provide resources to state cancer registries accepted into the program to more fully utilize their data and be involved in rigorous cancer research projects," said Holly L. Howe, Ph.D., executive director of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.
This article has been cited by other articles in HighWire Press-hosted journals:
![]() |
||||
|
Oxford University Press Privacy Policy and Legal Statement |