Abstract
One of the most recent articles using data from NORDCAN in the European Journal of Cancer is the article ‘Survival trends in solid cancers in the Nordic countries through 50 years’ by Janne Hemminki, Asta Försti, Akseli Hemminki and Kari Hemminki [ [1] Hemminki J. et al. Survival trends in solid cancers in the Nordic countries through 50 years. Eur J Cancer. 2022; 175: 77-85 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2) Google Scholar ]. In this article, the writers state that ‘The data used originate from the NORDCAN database …“, which is correct. The second paragraph of ‘Methods’ gives the details on how the survival analysis is performed. This paragraph, however, does not say anything about the fact that all survival analyses are already done by NORDCAN, in the NORDCAN pipeline and tool (nordcan.R), prior to being sent to the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the NORDCAN database [ [2] NORDCAN work groupNordcan survival methods. 2022https://github.com/CancerRegistryOfNorway/NORDCAN/wiki/nordcansurvival Google Scholar ]. In our opinion, this paragraph in ‘Methods’ gives the impression that Hemminki et al. have done the survival analysis themselves, based on the raw data from the NORDCAN database. This is not correct. It is not possible to get access to raw data, which are sufficient to do survival analysis from the NORDCAN database, and all statistics on 1-year and 5-year survival used in this article are retrieved directly from the NORDCAN web tool, without the possibility (or need) to do additional analysis. The impression that the authors did the survival analysis themselves is also supported by the fact that all authors are stated as contributors to ‘Statistical analysis and interpretation’ under ‘Author contributions’ and the fact that they do not make a reference to NORDCAN and how the analyses are downloaded and used from there. Survival trends in solid cancers in the Nordic countries through 50 yearsEuropean Journal of CancerVol. 175PreviewGlobal survival studies in cancer have generally shown favourable development, but studies over extended periods on populations for which medical care is essentially free of charge are lacking. Full-Text PDF Open AccessResponse to letter entitled: Re: Survival trends in solid cancers in the Nordic countries through 50 yearsEuropean Journal of CancerVol. 183PreviewThe NORDCAN database is unique in covering a long time-span of high-quality cancer data from populations with practically full access to health care. We are deeply thankful to the NORDCAN team on behalf of the global cancer community for making the database available [1]. The database is accessible at the web site of the International Agency for Research on Cancer without restrictions: ‘Data in NORDCAN is freely available, and the data is used at the researcher's own risk’. Two references are recommended: Larönningen et al. Full-Text PDF
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