Table 1.

Phase duration and disability weights for lung, female breast, and colon cancer

	Lung cancer	Female breast cancer	Colon cancer
Phase duration (months)
Diagnosis and treatment	5	6	9
Pre-terminal	5	11	3
Terminal duration	1	1	1
Statistical cure time	72	240	96
Disability weights*
Diagnosis and treatment	0.469	0.194	0.288
Pre-terminal	0.539	0.512	0.539
Terminal	0.548	0.520	0.548
Remission**	0.315	0.174	0.167

*Disability weights were sourced from the 2010 Global Burden of Disease [17] with modification to the NZ distribution of cancers [16].

**Remission refers to the period between diagnosis and treatment and either pre-terminal disease or statistical cure.

Note: For example, an individual dying of lung cancer one year after diagnosis will spend 5 months in the treatment and diagnosis phase; 1 month in remission; 5 months in the pre-terminal phase, and their final month in the terminal phase.