About the Canadian Cancer Registry

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The patient-oriented Canadian Cancer Registry evolved from the event-oriented National Cancer Incidence Reporting System established in 1969. The Canadian Cancer Registry is an administrative survey. Beginning with cases diagnosed in 1992, cancer incidence collected by provincial and territorial cancer registries have been reported to the Canadian Cancer Registry, which is maintained by Statistics Canada. The Canadian Cancer Registry has been developed to provide Canadian incidence and survival information required for cancer control. The Canadian Cancer Registry forms a personal information bank which is listed in the annual publication Info Source: Sources of Federal Government Information.

The Canadian Cancer Registry is a collaborative effort between the thirteen Canadian provincial and territorial cancer registries and the Health Statistics Division of Statistics Canada, where the data is housed. The data that come into the Canadian Cancer Registry describe both the individual with the cancer, and the characteristics of the cancer. The Canadian Council of Cancer Registries works with the cancer registries to establish national definitions and standards. Ultimate authority and responsibility for the degree of coverage and the quality of the data submitted to the Canadian Cancer Registry reside with the provinces and territories.

The Canadian Cancer Registry is a dynamic database of all Canadian residents alive or dead who have been diagnosed with cancer since 1992. The function of the Canadian Cancer Registry is to produce standardized and comparable cancer incidence and survival data for each newly diagnosed primary site of cancer. The Canadian Cancer Registry is a patient-based system that records the kind and number (incidence) of primary cancers diagnosed for each person until death. This system ensures that longitudinal data are available for each cancer patient. New primary cancers occurring for previous cancer patients are also identified. The patient data are regulary linked to the Canadian Mortality Data Base so that the date and cause of death of every cancer patient are eventually known.

In addition to information on cancer incidence, data are available about the characteristics of patients as well as about the nature and frequency of their tumour(s). Since patients' records remain active on the Canadian Cancer Registry until confirmation of death, survival rates for the various sites of cancer can be calculated.

The Canadian Cancer Registry also employs specialized softwares for internal record linkage to detect duplicate records and for death clearance to find death records. These procedures are done regularly. Conflicting information and other problems with the data uncovered by these processes are resolved through consultation with the reporting provinces and territories.

Objectives

The primary objective of the Canadian Cancer Registry is to provide a national database of information that can be used to study cancer patterns and trends and to monitor differences in cancer risks and survival among different populations in Canada.

Health-related statistics are used to provide accurate, timely and relevant information about the health of Canadians and the health care system. Statistics Canada provides statistical analyses and other information about the health of the population, the determinants of health, and the scope and utilization of Canada’s health care resources. This information is used to assist and support health planners and decision-makers at all levels of government, to sustain demographic and epidemiological research, and to report to the Canadian public about their collective health and the health care system.

Content

Each provincial and territorial cancer registry records all cases of cancer among the population in its jurisdiction by combining information from multiple sources such as cancer clinic files and radiotherapy reports, records from in-patient hospitals, out-patient clinics and private hospitals, pathology and other laboratory/autopsy reports, radiology and screening program reports, reports from physicians in private practice, and reports on cancer deaths from Vital Statistics registrars.

Each year, approximately 145,000 new cancer tumour records are loaded on the Canadian Cancer Registry database. Subsequent changes to registry data due to errors or omissions are also transmitted to Statistics Canada, as the information becomes available in the cancer registries.

The Canadian Council of Cancer Registries, which oversees the Canadian Cancer Registry, recommends that the following tumours should be reported to the Canadian Cancer Registry:

1. All primary, malignant tumours (topographies C00.0-C80.9 with behaviour codes of 3);
2. All carcinoma in situ/intraepithelial/non-infiltrating/non-invasive tumours (behaviour codes of 2); except cervix (topographies C53.0-C53.9); and except prostate (topography C61.9);
3. All borderline malignancies (behaviour codes of 1);
4. Primary, benign tumours of the meninges, brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves, and other parts of the central nervous system (topographies C70.0-C72.9 with behaviour codes of 0); pituitary, craniopharyngeal duct and pineal gland (topographies C75.1, C75.2, C75.3 with behaviour codes of 0);
5. EXCEPT all (behaviour codes of 1, 2, 3) skin cancers (topographies C44.0-C44.9) listed as neoplasms, NOS (histologies 8000-8005), epithelial neoplasms (histologies 8010-8046), squamous cell neoplasms (histologies 8050-8084) and basal cell neoplasms (histologies 8090-8110) are not reportable tumours.

Patient records include nominal, demographic and mortality information about the person. Tumour records contain information about the characteristics of the tumour and its diagnosis.