Estimating Breast Cancer-Specific and Other Cause Mortality in Clinical Trial and Population-Based Cancer Registry Cohorts

Background To compute net cancer-specific survival rates using population data sources (e.g., Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)), two approaches are primarily used: relative survival (observed survival adjusted for life expectancy) and cause-specific survival based on death certificates. We evaluate the performance of these estimates relative to a third approach based on detailed clinical follow-up history.