A statistical method allowing comparisons of populations that takes into account age-distribution differences between populations. Most incidence and death data in SEER are age-adjusted, although some tables, in contrast, present the crude rate. Age-adjusting takes the 2000 US population distribution and applies it to other time periods under consideration. This assures that such rates do not reflect any changes in the population age distribution. Rates can be adjusted for the distribution of other characteristics such as race/ethnicity Most data in SEER have been age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population. This allows comparison across racial groups taking into account differences in age structure of the populations. For example, the average age of many Hispanic/Latino populations is less than that of other racial/ethnic groups. Therefore, it sometimes appears that these groups have lower cancer incidence rates than other groups. However, by adjusting for age, more accurate comparisons can be made. See Calculating Age-adjusted Rates for further information

a weighted average of crude rates , where the crude rates are calculated for different age groups and the weights are the proportions of persons in the corresponding age groups of a standard population

Incidence or mortality rate adjusted to the age distribution of a standard population to allow for comparison among populations with different age distributions. Example: Rates are age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population.

a summary measure