Table 1.

Stepwise case ascertainment for analysis^*

Parameter	No. of subjects
Start: breast cancers diagnosed 1998 to 2003	311 643
Exclude patients with nonductal or lobular histology	293 036
Exclude patients with LCIS	286 585
Exclude patients younger than 18 y or older than 90 y	283 829
Exclude patients lacking microscopic confirmation	283 715
Exclude patients with bilateral involvement	283 383
Exclude men	281 575
Exclude patients with a nursing home, convalescent home, hospice, autopsy, or death certificate source of diagnosis	281 549
Exclude patients treated with radical mastectomy, extended radical mastectomy, breast-conserving surgery, mastectomy NOS, surgery NOS, unknown surgery, no surgery at primary tumor site, or local tumor destruction NOS	114 609
Exclude patients with stage IV disease or unknown stage	107 189
Exclude patients with no survival time	107 106

^*LCIS = lobular carcinoma in situ; NOS = not otherwise specified.