jamie Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 OK, I dont know if anyone is really gonna have an answer but...... If the statistics are outdated, and way off... When are they gonna come out with new ones???? I know that were all supposto ignore the statistics, but in my early searches before finding this board, I hung on those statistics. Wouldn't it help if they were up to date and more detailed???? Espically for people who dont have the luxury of finding this place first. Just a question Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelliemacs Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 its only my guess but I would think someone would be cautious about posting "up beat" stats so as to not be held accountable if an individual doesn't fit that mold. I am just guessing at that though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebbie Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 My doctor put it to me this way. Most of the cancer drugs that are currently being used to treat LC weren't even AROUND 5 years ago! Iressa has only been used mainstream for less than a year. WE are creating the new "stats"!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Jaime, My DOCTOR told me to ignore the statistics, that most of them (the five year ones) were figured almost ten years ago during the last "study". In order to have five year survival rates, a study has to GO that long. For example, if a five year study began TODAY, the primary results would be at this point in 2009, all data would need to be sent by all the doctors involved (and THAT'S not a quick thing), THEN the statisticians start THEIR work... Studies don't happen every year, it's a concentrated effort that takes more than one agency - ESPECIALLY when the "statistics" are supposedly national... As for the old statistics, they ALSO are not "correct". See, it's a five year study. Age and OTHER general health is NOT taken into account when the study is done. What does THAT mean? All they are looking for is <5 year mortality. If the patients are dealing with other health issues (high blood pressure, other cancers, diabetes, bad driving, risky behaviors, etc.), THAT is not taken into consideration either. So, in the statistics, if of ten patients, Patients 1-2 die of heart attacks prior to five years AFTER a LC diagnosis, they are still added in as "dead before five years"; Patients 3-5 die of merely "old age"; Patient 6 is hit by a beer truck; Patient 7 is shot by a car jacker; Patients 8-9 die of complications of lung cancer and Patient 10 is still alive, it is STILL figured as a 90% mortality disease...(where in actuality, it appears in my numberline, to be a 20% mortality). I hope this proves that A) I DO know the d*mn statistics, I HAVE done further research and ASKED questions, C) statistics can lie. Bottom line? Screw the "statistics", they're just random numbers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stand4hope Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Wow! Becky. Not only are you funny, but smart, too. I'm impressed. That makes a lot of sense now about the stats. I couldn't understand why everybody kept saying they were "wrong", but ahhhhhhh, now I have been educated, and that's very scary. Peggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Pretty smart for a blonde, ain't she, says this blonde. I don't know for sure. One night I decided to do a set of statisitics on members of this board, present and sadly, past. I worked a few hours, and then realized it was a pretty tough thing to do without the needed math background. I Almost Pmed CurtisG to help out. Then I thought better about that since I realized that I, myself, was treating us like numbers. I Felt really bad-- since only that day, I got kind of smart with my Dr (the bad one) and aksed him if he would like me to wear a number. He had no idea what I meant because he thought I was just meaning that I had had to wait so long to see him. I could have waited a whole other lifetime, I said. He didn't get that either. (Truthfully, I only got smart with him after the SECOND time he had offended me in two minutes) . But he and I guess other oncs treat us like numbers to self-protect--at our expense. Well, these "Crickets" are driving me batty if you can't already tell. Elaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelliemacs Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Becky, what brand of beer was on the truck and did the driver need glasses?? beer glasses that is for what spilled after hitting those few people's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Gee, Shelly, GUINNESS beer of course! I don't think light beer can kill ya and Guinness is darn near liquid bread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay A. Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Yep...by the time the data is gathered, validated, evaluated, validated again, written into a report then published 3 to 10 years may have already passed. And the information may very well be obsolete. A friend of mine wrote "....I am now being kept alive by a drug that did not exist when Iwas diagnosed with Lung Cancer 5 years ago..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriciaR Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Statistics are interesting and fun, but boy, are they easily manipulated and thus, often meaningless. One suggestion for checking stats is to check with your local tumor board/hospital/oncologists/cancer center. The statistics close to home are probably still skewed because of demographics, but they may be more current and responding to the treatments at your specific center. When I was diagnosed, the surgeon had just returned from a Northern California convention with nationwide statistics (supposedly recent) and also the local hospital's statistics. They were both pretty scarry, but slightly different from each other. For me, statistics are just one piece of the puzzle. Another is my response to treatment, age, general health, information/education, support system, diet, exercise, etc. Tricia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Our doctor wouldn't even give us a time estimate until I really pressed and then she mumbled. I like her a lot. I think the honest answer is she didn't know and nobody else really does either. It's a cutting edge field and there are too many individual factors. Margaret in Iowa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jana_W Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Hi I worked for the last eighteen months in the WA Cancer Registry. If you really are interested in finding out survival stats, I found the best place to look is at your local hospitals. There is fairly up to date statistics available there, however the sample size is smaller and as mentioned earlier the demographics could be skewed, so not sure really how useful they are. Snowflake made the comment too that these stats include deaths from all causes and not just from lung cancer, which also confounds the stats. I just tend to think that the earlier the stage, there will be more people with a positive prognosis. I made myself suffer severly when I worked in the cancer registry (I worked there the day I found out mum was stage IV) and was literally obsessed by these figures. Mum's still here and asymptomatic nearly one year later. That wasn't mentioned in the stats. Jana xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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