Browsing by Subject "cancer registry"

Background: The Finnish Cancer Registry (FCR) maintains data on cancer in the Finnish population since 1953. The data can be used for statistical and research purposes. Our aim was to evaluate the completeness and validity of breast cancer diagnoses in the cancer registry data in 2010-2014. Methods: We evaluated the completeness and accuracy on breast cancer diagnoses in the FCR between 2010 and 2014. Cancer data in the FCR and hospital periods and visits in the Care Register for Health and Welfare (formerly known as HILMO) were used primarily and cases found in HILMO but missing from the FCR were checked from original hospital records. Common breast cancers found in both HILMO and FCR were 23397 in total. In HILMO only, 2205 breast cancers were recorded and in the FCR only, 2404 cases. After exclusions, a total of 887 potential breast cancers that could be found only in HILMO were checked from hospital records. Accuracy was evaluated by correlation between ICD-10 diagnosis codes (C50 and D05) found in the FCR and the HILMO respectively. Results: A total of 887 breast cancers registered in HILMO were checked from original hospital records. In all, 747 cases (84,2 %) were confirmed as breast cancers. Of all checked cases, 609 cancers (69 %) were diagnosed before 2010 and only 34 cancers (4 %) were diagnosed during the period of 2010-2014. The number of true unregistered breast cancers from 2010-2014 were only 3,8 % of all the breast cancer diagnoses checked from hospital records. In all, these new, unregistered breast cancers represent merely 0,14 % of the total number of breast cancers diagnosed in Finland during 2010-2014. Conclusions: Based on the data in the Care Register for Health and Welfare and in the FCR, underreporting of breast cancers in Finland during the period of 2010-2014 is exceedingly small. With an underreporting of only 0,14 % of breast cancers in the whole country, the completeness of the breast cancer data in the FCR in 2010-2014 is excellent, 99,9 %.