Summary of Veterans Health Administration Cancer Data Sources.
J Registry Manag
; 51(1): 21-28, 2024.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38881982
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is a leader in generating transformational research across the cancer care continuum. Given the extensive body of cancer-related literature utilizing VHA data, our objectives are to (1) describe the VHA data sources available for conducting cancer-related research, and (2) discuss examples of published cancer research using each data source.Methods:
We identified commonly used data sources within the VHA and reviewed previously published cancer-related research that utilized these data sources. In addition, we reviewed VHA clinical and health services research web pages and consulted with a multidisciplinary group of cancer researchers that included hematologist/oncologists, health services researchers, and epidemiologists.Results:
Commonly used VHA cancer data sources include the Veterans Affairs (VA) Cancer Registry System, the VA Central Cancer Registry (VACCR), the Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW)-Oncology Raw Domain (subset of data within the CDW), and the VA Cancer Care Cube (Cube). While no reference standard exists for cancer case ascertainment, the VACCR provides a systematic approach to ensure the complete capture of clinical history, cancer diagnosis, and treatment. Like many population-based cancer registries, a significant time lag exists due to constrained resources, which may make it best suited for historical epidemiologic studies. The CDW-Oncology Raw Domain and the Cube contain national information on incident cancers which may be useful for case ascertainment and prospective recruitment; however, additional resources may be needed for data cleaning.Conclusions:
The VHA has a wealth of data sources available for cancer-related research. It is imperative that researchers recognize the advantages and disadvantages of each data source to ensure their research questions are addressed appropriately.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Registries
/
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
/
Neoplasms
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
J Registry Manag
Journal subject:
EPIDEMIOLOGIA
/
NEOPLASIAS
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication: