Lessons learned from the Canadian cancer registry experience.

Health leaders and caregivers are focused on evidence-based data to drive care delivery and practice. Ensuring the health system is functioning effectively and efficiently and that patient outcomes are reaching expected targets are topics that permeate conversations at the local, provincial, and national levels. However, as many leaders have come to understand in recent years, healthcare data collection and producing meaningful, high-quality metrics is a complex set of tasks, requiring its own level of attention and dedicated resources. In the healthcare data realm, there are opportunities to learn from experience. One of these opportunities is the population-based cancer registry, which is one of the oldest examples of standardized data collection in the Canadian health system.

Using personal health insurance numbers to link the Canadian Cancer Registry and the Discharge Abstract Database.

BACKGROUND: Linking cancer registry and administrative data can reveal health care use patterns among cancer patients. The Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) contains personal health insurance numbers (HINs) that facilitate linkage to hospitalization information in the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD). DATA AND METHODS: Valid HINs, captured in the CCR or obtained through probabilistic linkages to provincial health insurance registries, were used to deterministically link prostate, female breast, colorectal and lung cancers diagnosed from 2005 through 2008 with the DAD for fiscal years 2004/2005 to 2010/2011. RESULTS: At least 98% of tumours diagnosed from 2005 through 2008 had valid HINs in the CCR or obtained through probabilistic linkages. For provinces submitting day surgeries to the DAD, linkage rates to at least one DAD record were higher for female breast (95.6% to 98.1%), colorectal (96.9% to 98.7%) and lung cancers (92.8% to 96.3%) than for prostate cancers (77.2% to 91.6%). Among linked records, agreement was high for sex (99% or more) and complete date of birth (97% or more); the likelihood of a consistent diagnosis in the CCR and on at least one linked DAD record was higher for female breast (86.8% to 97.2%), colorectal (94.6% to 97.7%) and lung cancers (90.3% to 95.5%) than for prostate cancers (77.4% to 87.8%). INTERPRETATION: Deterministically linking the CCR and DAD using personal HINs is a feasible and valid approach to obtaining hospitalization information about cancer patients.

Esophageal cancer in Canada: trends according to morphology and anatomical location.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal adenocarcinoma has one of the fastest rising incidence rates and one of the lowest survival rates of any cancer type in the Western world. However, in many countries, trends in esophageal cancer differ according to tumour morphology and anatomical location. In Canada, incidence and survival trends for esophageal cancer subtypes are poorly known. METHODS: Cancer incidence and mortality rates were obtained from the Canadian Cancer Registry, the National Cancer Incidence Reporting System and the Canadian Vital Statistics Death databases for the period from 1986 to 2006. Observed trends (annual per cent change) and five-year relative survival ratios were estimated separately for esophageal adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, and according to location (upper, middle, or lower one-third of the esophagus). Incidence rates were projected up to the year 2026. RESULTS: Annual age-standardized incidence rates for esophageal cancer in 2004 to 2006 were 6.1 and 1.7 per 100,000 for males and females, respectively. Esophageal adenocarcinoma incidence rose by 3.9% (males) and 3.6% (females) per year for the period 1986 to 2006, with the steepest increase in the lower one-third of the esophagus (4.8% and 5.0% per year among males and females, respectively). In contrast, squamous cell carcinoma incidence declined by 3.3% (males) and 3.2% (females) per year since the early 1990s. The five-year relative survival ratio for esophageal cancer was 13% between 2004 and 2006, approximately a 3% increase since the period from 1992 to 1994. Projected incidence rates showed increases of 40% to 50% for esophageal adenocarcinoma and decreases of 30% for squamous cell carcinoma by 2026. DISCUSSION: Although esophageal cancer is rare in Canada, the incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma has doubled in the past 20 years, which may reflect the increasing prevalence of obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Declines in squamous cell carcinoma may be the result of the decreases in the prevalence of smoking in Canada. Given the low survival rates and the potential for further increases in incidence, esophageal adenocarcinoma warrants close attention.

Examining stage IIB survival in a population-based cohort of patients with colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: In Nova Scotia, Canada, a previous study of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases diagnosed between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2005, found that patients with stage IIB CRC had similar 5-year overall survival (OS) to those with stage IIIC cancer. This study sought to examine factors contributing to the observed stage IIB outcome, specifically nodal harvest, receipt of chemotherapy, and use of a new coding system to derive stage. METHODS: The provincial cancer registry identified all CRC cases diagnosed during the study period and staged this cohort using the Collaborative Stage (CS) Data Collection System. All patients with stage II and III cancer in the cohort were examined. Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival curves compared 5-year OS for patients with stage IIB cancer based on the factors of interest, and compared patients with stage IIB cancer to those with stage IIA and III cancer. RESULTS: OS for patients with stage IIB cancer (n = 187) was 44.7%, and differed depending on adequacy of nodal harvest (P = .005) and whether pathological or clinical/mixed evidence was used to derive stage (P = .013). Pathologically-staged patients with stage IIB cancer who had adequate nodal harvest had marginally improved OS compared to pathologically-staged patients who had inadequate nodal harvest (P = .07), and improved survival compared to patients with clinical/mixed stage (P = .004). Pathologically-staged patients with stage IIB cancer with adequate nodal harvest demonstrated similar 5-year OS to those with stage IIA and III cancer (P = .52 and P = .25, respectively). Cox proportional hazards models supported these findings. CONCLUSIONS: The inclusion of clinical/mixed evidence into staging classification and, perhaps to a lesser extent, the adequacy of nodal harvest appear to contribute to the observed worse survival for patients with stage IIB versus stage III cancer.

A team approach to improving colorectal cancer services using administrative health data.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada and accounts for 11.9% of all cancer-related mortality. Fortunately, previous studies have provided evidence of improved outcomes from access to timely and appropriate health services along the disease trajectory in CRC. As a result, the CIHR/CCNS Team in Access to Colorectal Cancer Services in Nova Scotia (Team ACCESS) was created to build colorectal cancer (CRC) research capacity in Nova Scotia (NS) and to study access to and quality of CRC services along the entire continuum of cancer care. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this paper are to: 1) provide a detailed description of the methodologies employed across the various studies being conducted by Team ACCESS; 2) demonstrate how administrative health data can be used to evaluate access and quality in CRC services; and 3) provide an example of an interdisciplinary team approach to addressing health service delivery issues. METHODS: All patients diagnosed with CRC in NS between 2001 and 2005 were identified through the Nova Scotia Cancer Registry (NSCR) and staged using the Collaborative Stage Data Collection System. Using administrative databases that were linked at the patient level, Team ACCESS created a retrospective longitudinal cohort with comprehensive demographic, clinical, and healthcare utilization data. These data were used to examine access to and quality of CRC services in NS, as well as factors affecting access to and quality of care, at various transition points along the continuum of care. Team ACCESS has also implemented integrated knowledge translation strategies targeting policy- and decision- makers. DISCUSSION: The development of Team ACCESS represents a unique approach to CRC research. We anticipate that the skills, tools, and knowledge generated from our work will also advance the study of other cancer disease sites in NS. Given the increasing prevalence of cancer, and with national and provincial funding agencies promoting collaborative research through increased funding for research team development, the work carried out by Team ACCESS is important in the Canadian context and exemplifies how a team approach is essential to comprehensively addressing issues surrounding not only cancer, but other chronic diseases in Canada.

Radiotherapy wait times for patients with a diagnosis of invasive cancer, 1992-2000.

PURPOSE: To study the wait times for cancer patients from the time of diagnosis to consultation with a radiation oncologist (T1), from consultation to radiotherapy (T2) and from diagnosis to radiotherapy (T3) in the context of treatment practices and measurement issues. METHODS: From 1992 to 2000, we studied 6585 Nova Scotian patients over the age of 24 years with a diagnosis of breast, lung, colorectal or prostate cancer who received radiotherapy within 1 year of diagnosis. Multivariate analyses examined associations between wait time and diagnosis year, age, sex, median household income (MHI), distance to the cancer centre and extent of disease. Univariate findings reported are median times and interquartile ranges. RESULTS: The T3 was 16 weeks for breast and colorectal cancer, 6 weeks for lung cancer and 18 weeks for prostate cancer. The greatest T1 decrease over time was for prostate cancer: 13-8 weeks (hazards ratio [HR] = 1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-1.10). The T2 increased for all cancers, and the T3 increased from 5 to 7 weeks for lung cancer, from 17 to 22 weeks for prostate cancer and from 10 to 18 weeks for breast cancer, with no change for colorectal cancer. The T3 decreased by age for breast cancer (HR = 1.12, CI = 1.10-1.14) and prostate cancer (HR = 1.07, CI = 1.02-1.11), showed no consistent association with distance to a cancer centre and varied by extent of disease. Patients with localized lung disease had a longer T3 than those with distant disease, but the opposite results were noted for patients with breast cancer. The T3 was greater for regional than distant disease in lung and breast cancers. Sex and MHI had no effect. CONCLUSION: Wait times reflected clinical practice, and there were no adverse patterns related to age, sex, income or distance from a cancer centre.