Demographic Characteristics for MHOS (1998-2023) Respondents (Age 65+) with Completed Survey Before or After their First Cancer Diagnosis, and Those Without Cancer

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Demographic Characteristics Non-Cancer1
(N=959,343)
Survey Before Cancer Diagnosis2
(N=198,585)
Survey After Cancer Diagnosis3
(N=198,186)
N % N % N %
Age
65-74 574,922 (59.93) 128,418 (64.67) 102,370 (51.65)
75-84 294,851 (30.73) 59,689 (30.06) 73,032 (36.85)
85+ 89,570 (9.34) 10,478 (5.28) 22,784 (11.5)
Gender
Male 375,115 (39.1) 96,043 (48.36) 98,249 (49.57)
Female 584,209 (60.9) 102,542 (51.64) 99,937 (50.43)
Unknown 19 0 0 0 0 0
Race/ethnicity
White 637,377 (66.44) 147,510 (74.28) 143,730 (72.52)
Asian or Pacific Islander 66,506 (6.93) 9,493 (4.78) 10,791 (5.44)
Black or African American 108,336 (11.29) 20,733 (10.44) 22,097 (11.15)
Hispanic 139,750 (14.57) 19,507 (9.82) 20,294 (10.24)
American Indian or Alaskan Native 4,576 (0.48) 903 (0.45) 767 (0.39)
Another race, Multi-Race, or Unknown 2,798 (0.29) 439 (0.22) 507 (0.25)
Marital Status
Married 484,033 (50.45) 111,508 (56.15) 105,416 (53.19)
Divorced/Separated 147,673 (15.39) 27,153 (13.67) 30,034 (15.15)
Widowed 256,920 (26.78) 47,378 (23.86) 48,047 (24.24)
Single/Never married 47,834 (4.99) 7,995 (4.03) 9,545 (4.82)
Unknown 22,883 (2.39) 4,551 (2.29) 5,144 (2.6)
Income
Less than $10K 133,620 (13.93) 23,049 (11.61) 21,926 (11.06)
$10K to $19,999 186,640 (19.45) 39,677 (19.98) 34,531 (17.42)
$20K to $49,999 284,214 (29.63) 66,223 (33.35) 63,369 (31.97)
$50K to $79,999 79,821 (8.32) 17,350 (8.74) 20,094 (10.14)
$80K+ 59,402 (6.19) 11,613 (5.85) 16,197 (8.17)
Unknown 215,646 (22.48) 40,673 (20.48) 42,069 (21.23)
Education
<High School 265,196 (27.64) 52,849 (26.61) 44,062 (22.23)
HS grad 290,445 (30.28) 63,459 (31.96) 58,671 (29.6)
Some College 206,093 (21.48) 43,235 (21.77) 46,507 (23.47)
College graduate 77,988 (8.13) 16,079 (8.1) 19,299 (9.74)
Postgraduate 87,555 (9.13) 17,733 (8.93) 23,012 (11.61)
Unknown 32,066 (3.34) 5,230 (2.63) 6,635 (3.35)
Performance Measures 4 Mean Scores Mean Scores Mean Scores
Physical Component Summary Score (PCS) 39.85 41.34 38.31
Mental Component Summary Score(MCS) 50.94 52.12 50.9

1Individuals not linked to SEER, no self-report of cancer and lived in SEER area at the time of MHOS survey.

2Individuals with MHOS survey before their first cancer diagnosis.

3Individuals with the first survey after any cancer diagnosis.

4Overall, 99.65% of people in the sample have PCS12 and MCS12 scores.

Note: Respondents are counted once in the table.

P value ≤ .0001 from the Chi-Square statistics on demographic characteristics by cancer status.

Last Updated: 14 Jan, 2026