Delay and completeness of cancer registration in a post‐marketing surveillance study of cimetidine

Abstract

AbstractData collected in a large multicentre post‐marketing surveillance study of cimetidine have been used to assess delay and completeness of cancer registration. With regard to delay, 44% of registrations in Nottingham were received within 2 years of the diagnosis of cancer but only 14% in Oxford and 6% in Portsmouth. By the end of the third year, these figures had become 82%, 62% and 62% respectively. With regard to completeness, in the period 3 to 10 years before the assessment date 9% of Nottingham, 36% of Oxford and 17% of Portsmouth neoplasms were still unregistered. Investigators using National Cancer Registry data for interpretation of their studies should be acquainted with the performance of the individual registries concerned.