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Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on July 18, 2006
Journal of Public Health 2006 28(3):274-277; doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdl046
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© The Author 2006, Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved.

A modification to the flow method to estimate completeness in cancer registries with delayed registration



Fabio Montanaro, Consultant Epidemiologist1

David Robinson, Honorary Senior Lecturer2

Andrea Bordoni, Head of Ticino Cancer Registry3

Jean-Michel Lutz, Epidemiologist4
1 Liguria Mesothelioma Registry, Department Epidemiology and Prevention, National Cancer Research Institute, Largo R. Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy
2 Thames Cancer Registry, King’s College, 1st Floor Capital House, 42 Weston Street, London SE1 3QD, UK
3 Ticino Cancer Registry, Institute of Pathology, Via in Selva 24, CH-6600 Locarno, Switzerland
4 Association Suisse de Registres des Tumeurs, Registre genevois des tumeurs, 55 Bd de la Cluse, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland

Address correspondence to Fabio Montanaro, E-mail: fabio.montanaro{at}tele2.it

Objective For registries that routinely delay case registration, the flow method does not accurately describe their completeness over time. A modification to allow for such a delay is proposed and tested.

Methods Using original data set from Ticino Cancer Registry, Switzerland, a new data set (the delayed data set) was created by adding two years to the date of registration for each case in the original data set, to emulate the situation in a registry where registration is delayed by two years. Both the original and modified methods were then applied to both the original and the delayed data set.

Results When applied to the delayed data, the original method produced estimates of completeness of 32 and 43% at one and two years after diagnosis. When the modified method was applied to the delayed data, the completeness at one and two years was correctly estimated at 0%. After the initial two-year time lag, completeness was consistently estimated by both methods. When applied to the original data, the modified method produced the same results as the original method.

Conclusions The proposed modification allows the method to be applied even when registration is delayed long after diagnosis—thus extending the range of registries for which the flow method can be used.

Keywords: cancer registration, completeness, quality control


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