在美国 (US)，监测、流行病学和最终结果 (SEER) 计划是基于人群的信息的唯一综合来源，其中包括诊断时的癌症分期和患者生存数据。该计划旨在为癌症领域的监测研究以及分析和方法工具的开发提供有关癌症发病率和生存率的数据库。目前，SEER 计划覆盖了美国大约一半的癌症患者。越来越多的临床研究将SEER数据库应用于各个方面。然而SEER数据库的数据量庞大、数据类型复杂等固有特征阻碍了其应用。在这篇综述中，我们系统地概述了回顾性流行病学研究的常用方法和研究设计，以说明 SEER 数据库的应用。因此，本次综述的目的是帮助研究人员选择适当的方法和研究设计，通过挖掘 SEER 数据库来增强临床研究的稳健性和可靠性。© 2023。作者。

In the United States (US), the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program is the only comprehensive source of population-based information that includes stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis and patient survival data. This program aims to provide a database about cancer incidence and survival for studies of surveillance and the development of analytical and methodological tools in the cancer field. Currently, the SEER program covers approximately half of the total cancer patients in the US. A growing number of clinical studies have applied the SEER database in various aspects. However, the intrinsic features of the SEER database, such as the huge data volume and complexity of data types, have hindered its application. In this review, we provided a systematic overview of the commonly used methodologies and study designs for retrospective epidemiological research in order to illustrate the application of the SEER database. Therefore, the goal of this review is to assist researchers in the selection of appropriate methods and study designs for enhancing the robustness and reliability of clinical studies by mining the SEER database.© 2023. The Author(s).