Archives: Glossary
The proportion of eligible people who take part in a screening program. Higher participation can help screening programs detect more cancers or precancerous changes early.
Finding cancer at an earlier stage, when treatment is more likely to be successful. Early detection can happen through cancer screening or when symptoms are noticed and investigated quickly.
When a person collects their own biological sample for testing, often using a swab or kit. In cancer screening, self-sampling can make testing more accessible and comfortable for some people.
A factor that can be controlled, changed or measured in a study.
Testing people who do not have symptoms to look for cancer or precancerous changes as early as possible. Screening can help find cancer when it is smaller, less likely to have spread and more likely to be treated successfully. See also early detection and secondary prevention.
The number of participants or study objects (e.g. tissue samples) involved in a study, e.g. within a clinical trial. A larger sample size provides stronger evidence, as it as associated with greater statistical power (see power calculation).
Describes a mathematical measure to determine if an observed effect is likely based on chance alone or not. A difference is said to be statistically significant if it is greater than what might be expected to happen by chance alone. See p-value.
How well a measurement measures what it should.
A type of calculation which works out the sample size required to detect a real (significant) difference between groups that are compared (e.g. treatment vs control) with a certain probability.
The chance of something happening (see risk).