In 1946, the Society’s Research Department began with Extramural Grants and what was then called the Epidemiology Department, which later changed its name to the Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research. To enhance the productivity of this area of research, a re-organization and name change for the former Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research resulted in two independent research departments in early FY2009. The former department consisted of two functionally separate components of epidemiology research representing both analytic epidemiology and surveillance research, which also housed health services research. The two new departments are (1) Surveillance and Health Policy Research, with Elizabeth Ward, PhD as its vice president, and (2) Epidemiology, with Susan Gapstur, PhD, MPH as its new vice president. Vice President Michael Thun, MD, MS of the former combined department, has become the Vice President Emeritus, Epidemiology and Surveillance. All three vice presidents report directly to the new National Vice President of Research, who, as of January 2009, is Dr. Victor Vogel.

The mission of Surveillance Research is to analyze and disseminate population-based information on cancer occurrence, its causes, prevention and treatment, and thereby, to strengthen the scientific basis for cancer control. The Society Surveillance Research program is best known for its widely cited projections of the annual number of cancer cases and deaths projected to occur in the United States in the coming year, published every January in Cancer Facts & Figures for lay audiences and Cancer Statistics for health professionals. Since 1997, each edition of Cancer Facts & Figures has highlighted a special topic; in 2007, it was cancer-related pain it and in 2008, it was cancers linked to infectious diseases.

Surveillance Research undertakes several activities related to international cancer control. In December 2007, the group published the first Global Cancer Facts & Figures. Under the leadership of a new director, the International Tobacco Surveillance Group initiated projects related to economics of tobacco in Southeast Asia, Russia, and Ukraine and collaborated with the Society’s International Department and Cancer Research UK to establish a program to promote tobacco surveillance, research and control efforts in Southern Africa. Ongoing work in Southeast Asia will be funded by a five -year National Institutes of Health grant.

Surveillance Research Publications, Fiscal Year 2008

1. Albano JD, Jemal A, Ward EM, Anderson RN, Cokkinides VE, Murray ET, Henley SJ, Liff J, Thun MJ. Cancer mortality by education and race in the United States. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007;99(18):1384-94. Few studies have investigated cancer mortality by education level; this study found differences in cancer mortality rates by educational attainment, including an inverse relationship between education and mortality for all sites combined, lung/bronchus, colorectal and prostate, but not for breast cancer.

2. Bandi P, Cokkinides VE, Westmaas JL, Ward E. Parental communication not to smoke and adolescent cigarette smokers’ readiness to quit: differences by age. J Adolesc Health. 2008. In Press. This study explored the relationship between parental practices that specifically discourage current cigarette smoking and adolescent cessation, and how this relationship varies by age.

3. Chen AY, Halpern MT, Schrag NM, Stewart A, Leitch M, Ward E. Disparities and trends in sentinel lymph node biopsy among early-stage breast cancer patients (1998-2005). J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008;100:462-74, 2008.

4. Cokkinides VE, Halpern MT, Barbeau E, Ward, EM, Thun MJ. Racial and ethnic disparities in smoking cessation interventions: analysis of the 2005 National Health Interview Survey. Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34(5):404-12. Despite progress in smokers being advised to quit during healthcare encounters, black and Hispanic smokers continue to be less likely than whites to receive and use tobacco cessation interventions; further actions are needed to understand and eliminate this disparity.

5. Desantis C, Jemal AM, Ward EM, Thun MJ. Temporal trends in breast cancer mortality by state and race. Cancer Causes Control. 2008;19:537-45. This paper is an analysis of breast cancer mortality trends by state.

6. Espey DK, Wu XC, Swan J, Wiggins C, Jim M, Ward EM, Wingo PA, Howe HL, Ries LAG, Miller BA, Jemal A, Ahmed F, Cobb N, Kaur JA Edward BK. Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1975-2004, featuring cancer in American Indians and Alaska natives. Cancer. 2007;110(10):2119-52. The lower cancer rates observed nationally in AI/AN obscure regional patterns of cancer incidence which are critical for effective implementation of prevention and control efforts.

7. Halpern MT, Ward EM, Pavluck AL, Schrag NM, Bian J, Chen AY. Association of insurance status and ethnicity with cancer stage at diagnosis for 12 cancer sites: a retrospective analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2008;9(3):222-31. A study was conducted by researchers at the American Cancer Society using data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) looking at the relationship between health insurance status and stage at diagnosis for 12 major cancer sites. This study finds that being uninsured was consistently associated with more advanced cancer stage at diagnosis for multiple cancer sites. The strongest associations between insurance status and advanced stage cancer were observed for cancers that can potentially be detected early by screening or evaluation of symptoms. For this reason, multiple cancer sites were published together to illustrate the pattern that associations were strongest for the cancers for which screening and early detection are available, such as breast and colorectal cancer and melanoma of the skin, and weakest for those cancers for which there are limited, if any, early symptoms, such as ovary and pancreas.

8. Halpern MT, Yabroff KR. Prevalence of outpatient cancer treatment in the United States: estimates from the Medical Panel Expenditures Survey (MEPS). Cancer Invest. 2008;26(6):647-51. This study analyzed nationally-representative data from the 2000-2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to estimate the number of U.S. cancer patients receiving outpatient chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy annually. These estimates may be useful for understanding the burden of cancer care and development of programs for cancer survivors.

9. Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E, Hao Y, Xu J, Murray T, Thun MJ. Cancer Statistics 2008. CA Cancer J Clin. 2008; 58(2):71-96. This paper provides an up-to-date estimate of new cancer cases and deaths in the United States and provides the most recent data on cancer incidence, survival, and mortality.

10. Jemal A, Thun MJ, Ward EM, Henley SJ, Cokkinides VA, Murray ET. Mortality from leading causes by education and race in the U.S., 2001. Am J Prev Med. 2008;34(1):1-8. The study showed that potential avoidable factors associated with lower educational status account for almost half of all deaths among working-age adults in the U.S.

11. Jemal AM, Ward EM, Anderson R, Murray ET, Thun MJ. Widening of socioeconomic inequalities in U.S. death rates. PLoS ONE. 2008;3(5):e2181. Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality are increasing rapidly due to continued progress by educated white and black men and white women, and stable or worsening trends among the least educated.

12. Kinsey T, Jemal AM, Liff J, Ward EM, Thun MJ. Secular trends in mortality from common cancers in the US by educational attainment, 1993-2001. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008;100(14):1003-12. The recent decline in death rates from major cancers in the U.S. mainly reflects declines in more highly educated.

13. Lazovich D, Stryker J, Mayer J, Hillhouse J, Dennis LK, Pichon L, Pagoto S, Heckman C, Olson A, Cokkinides V, Thompson K. Measuring non-solar tanning behavior: indoor and sunless tanning. Arch Dermatol. 2008;144(2):225-30. This paper describes the results of cognitive assessments of proposed measures to track indoor and sunless tanning.

14. Ward EM, Halpern MT, Schrag NM, Cokkinides VE, DeSantis C, Bandi P, Siegel R, Stewart A, Jemal A. Association of insurance with cancer care utilization and outcomes. CA Cancer J Clin. 2008; 58(1)9-31. Evidence presented in this paper suggests that addressing insurance and cost-related barriers to care is a critical component of efforts to ensure that all Americans are able to share in the progress that can be achieved by access to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection and treatment services.

* Articles published online prior to the close of the fiscal year, but published in print after the close the fiscal year.