Describe several uses of population-based cancer data.

Frequencies, incidence rates and in some cases, prevalence rates for cancer in the population they serve can be used to develop cancer control programs, monitor the disease burden and how it differs between various groups in the population, map the disease burden, and generate hypotheses for studies to determine causes of cancer and cancer disparities. Through the use of stage data, areas of high stage can be identified for screening programs. Population-based cancer data are used to study potential cancer hot spots in a community and the relationship between cancer incidence and ecological factors. It also is used as a source of cases for case-control studies and cohort studies. Population-based cancer data provides data for patterns of care studies on a population level and for monitoring the survival of the population. National surveillance data can be used to compare across geographic areas and populations and also allows for examining rare cancers and small populations.