The feasibility of adding treatment data to the Canadian Cancer Registry using record linkage - ARCHIVED

The Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) represents a collaborative effort between Statistics Canada and the thirteen provincial and territorial cancer registries to create a single database to report annually on cancer incidence and survival at the national and jurisdictional level. While gains have been made to ensure high quality, standardized, and comparable data, the CCR currently lacks information on cancer treatment. The Canadian Council of Cancer Registries (CCCR) identified the need to capture treatment data at the national level as a key strategic priority for 2013/2014. Record linkage was identified as one possible approach to fill this information gap.

The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of using record linkage to add cancer treatment information for selected cancers: breast, colorectal and prostate. The objectives are twofold: to assess the quality of the linkage processes and the validity of using linked data to estimate cancer treatment rates at the provincial level. The study is based on the Canadian Cancer Registry (2005 to 2008) linked to the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS) for four provinces (Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island). The linkage was proposed by Statistics Canada, the CCCR and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). The linkage was approved and conducted at Statistics Canada.