A joinpoint regression analysis on breast, colon and lung cancer incidence data in the Philippines (1993-2002)

• Main Authors: Africa, Jennifer Dela Peña, Turingan, La Reina Ysabella Genil
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/11873
• Institution: De La Salle University

Cancer or malignant neoplasm causes very high mortality rates in the Philippines which makes it the third leading cause of deaths. Moreover, cancer incidence in the Philippines gradually increases every year especially in three common cancer sites which are the lung, breast, and colon cancers. With the aid of Joinpoint Software Version 3.4.2., a joinpoint regression analysis using quarterly cancer incidence data from 1993-2002 on selected cities in the Philippines was done to be able to analyze the trends of the top three leading cancers in the country. Furthermore, the best models were selected through comparing the MSEs of the three heteroscedastic options found in the software. Results showed that breast cancer slowly increases by 1.47% per quarter while lung cancer steadily decreases by 0.05% per quarter. The colon cancer continues to rise by 2.16% per quarter especially in Pasay where it constantly increases by 4.91% per quarter. This implies that the government must focus more on monitoring, controlling and preventing the incidence of colon cancer through launching more health programs like awareness on the effects of dietary fats to one’s health which is the primary source of colon cancer.