Hybrid analysis for up-to-date long-term survival rates in cancer registries with delayed recording of incident cases

Up-to-date monitoring of long-term survival is an important task of population-based and clinical cancer registries. A few years ago, a new method of survival analysis, denoted period analysis, was introduced to provide more up-to-date estimates of long-term survival. However, a prototypical period analysis may not be applicable in situations with delayed recording of incident cases. We introduce herein a hybrid type of analysis that combines elements of both traditional and period analyses which may still be feasible in such settings. The performance of the hybrid type of analysis compared with other design options is empirically evaluated and illustrated for children diagnosed with cancer in the United States. The empirical evaluation indicates that hybrid analysis may be useful to derive more up-to-date estimates of long-term survival compared with traditional design options if there is a strong improvement of survival over time, even in situations with a substantial delay in recording of incident cases. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.