What is average annual percent change or AAPC?
This year’s report uses the average annual percent change (AAPC) as an addendum to the underlying joinpoint annual percent change (APC) trends as a summary measure to compare fixed interval trends by race/ethnicity. The AAPC quantifies the average trend over a period of multiple years. In describing long- and short-term trends with APC and AAPC estimates, all trends described as “increasing” or “decreasing” are statistically significant unless otherwise noted. Non-significant trends may be described as “level,” “stable,” “non-significant decrease” or “non-significant increase”. Based on long-term trends (1975-2006), the AAPCs for the most recent five years, 2002 through 2006, were similar to the APCs for the most recent time period. As expected, when the incidence trend fluctuated over time, the 10-year (1997-2006) AAPCs differed from the most recent APCs, e.g., all sites combined for men and women, and cancers of the prostate, pancreas and colorectum in men, and cancers of the breast,
