The Evaluation of Data Collection Procedures—Assessment of Completeness

Abstract

Cancer registration is a procedure whereby selected information about all patients with cancer in a precisely defined population is brought together centrally. Its objectives, ideally, should be to gather reliable data which will permit the measurement of the cancer problem in the community and to determine trends in incidence rates; to provide indices for evaluating the progress made in bringing cancer under control, to evaluate the services provided to the patient with cancer, to ensure continued care of the patient and to promote epidemiological, laboratory and clinical research. The attainment of these objectives presupposes access to adequate demographic, clinical and other relevant reports from which the pertinent data can be drawn.