Table 2.

Sample Characteristics for Approaches Used to Estimate Prevalence Costs of Care for Colorectal Cancer Patients

	SEER-Medicare	Medicare Claims Only	MEPS
Number of CRC Patients	73,050	3,575	196
Number of Controls	146,100	17,875	12,152
Mean Age (years)	79.8	78.0
Gender (percent)
Male	44.3	42.2	45.0
Female	55.7	57.8	55.0
Stage Distribution at Diagnosis (percent)
In situ	7.3
Localized	46.2	N/A	N/A
Regional	35.3
Distant	5.2
Unstaged/Missing	6.0
Mean/median survival months following diagnosis or identification (months)	93.0/68.0	29.5/24.0	N/A
CRC patients	97.0/72.0	30.5/25.0
Controls

CRC = colorectal cancer SEER = Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results MEPS = Medical Expenditure Panel Survey N/A = Not available