Advertisement
Research Article| Volume 45, ISSUE 6, P909-930, April 2009

The EUROCARE-4 database on cancer survival in Europe: Data standardisation, quality control and methods of statistical analysis

Published:January 07, 2009DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2008.11.003
The EUROCARE-4 database on cancer survival in Europe: Data standardisation, quality control and methods of statistical analysis
Previous ArticleComparative cancer survival information in Europe
Next ArticleEUROCARE-4. Survival of cancer patients diagnosed in 1995–1999. Results and commentary

      Abstract

      This paper describes the collection, standardisation and checking of cancer survival data included in the EUROCARE-4 database. Methods for estimating relative survival are also described. Incidence and vital status data on newly diagnosed European cancer cases were received from 93 cancer registries in 23 countries, covering 151,400,000 people (35% of the participating country population). The third revision of the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology was used to specify tumour topography and morphology. Records were extensively checked for consistency and compatibility using multiple routines; flagged records were sent back for correction. An algorithm assigned standardised sequence numbers to multiple cancers. Only first malignant cancers were used to estimate relative survival from registry, year, sex and age-specific life tables. Age-adjusted and Europe-wide survival were also estimated.
      The database contains 13,814,573 cases diagnosed in 1978–2002; 92% malignant. A negligible proportion of records was excluded for major errors. Of 5,753,934 malignant adult cases diagnosed in 1995–2002, 5.3% were second or later cancers, 2.7% were known from death certificates only and 0.4% were discovered at autopsy. The remaining 5,278,670 cases entered the survival analyses, 90% of these had microscopic confirmation and 1.3% were censored alive after less than five years’ follow-up. These indicators suggest satisfactory data quality that has improved since EUROCARE-3.

      Keywords

      To read this article in full you will need to make a payment

      Purchase one-time access:

      Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
      One-time access price info
      • For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
      • For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'

      Subscribe:

      Subscribe to European Journal of Cancer
      Already a print subscriber? Claim online access
      Already an online subscriber? Sign in
      Register: Create an account
      Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect

      References

      1. Berrino F, Sant M, Verdecchia A, et al., editors. Survival of cancer patients in Europe: the EUROCARE study. IARC Scientific Publications No. 132. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 1995.

        View in Article

      2. Berrino F, Capocaccia R, Esteve J, et al., editors. Survival of cancer patients in Europe: the EUROCARE-2 study. IARC Scientific Publications No. 151. Lyon, France; International Agency for Research on Cancer; 1999.

        View in Article

      3. Berrino F, Capocaccia R, Coleman MP, et al., editors. Survival of cancer patients in Europe: the EUROCARE-3 study. Ann Oncol, 2003;14(Suppl. 5).

        View in Article
        • Gatta G.
        • Ciccolallo L.
        • Kunkler I.
        • et al.
        Survival from rare cancer in adults: a population-based study.
        Lancet Oncol. 2006; 7: 132-140
        View in Article
        • Fritz A.
        • Percy C.
        • Jack A.
        • et al.
        WHO international classification of diseases for oncology.
        3rd ed. WHO, Geneva2000
        View in Article
        • Berrino F.
        • De Angelis R.
        • Sant M.
        • et al.
        Survival for eight major cancers and all cancers combined for European adults diagnosed in 1995–1999.
        Lancet Oncol. 2007; 8: 773-783
        View in Article
        • Verdecchia A.
        • Francisci S.
        • Brenner H.
        • et al.
        Recent cancer survival in Europe: a 2000–02 period analysis of EUROCARE-4 data.
        Lancet Oncol. 2007; 8: 784-796
        View in Article
        • Sant M.
        • Allemani C.
        • Santaquilani M.
        • et al.
        • the EUROCARE Working Group
        EUROCARE-4. Survival of cancer patients diagnosed in 1995–1999. Results and commentary.
        Eur J Cancer. 2009; 45: 931-991
        View in Article
        • Brenner H.
        • Francisci S.
        • De Angelis R.
        • et al.
        • the EUROCARE Working Group
        Long-term survival expectations of cancer patients in Europe in 2000–2002.
        Eur J Cancer. 2009; 45: 1028-1041
        View in Article

      10. EUROCARE study web-site: <http://www.eurocare.it/> [accessed 03.06.08].

        View in Article

      11. Ferlay J, Burkhard C, Whelan S, Parkin DM. Check and conversion programs for Cancer Registries. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Technical Report No. 42: Lyon (France); 2005. <http://www.iacr.com.fr/TR42.htm>.

        View in Article
        • Rosso S.
        • De Angelis R.
        • Ciccolallo L.
        • et al.
        • the EUROCARE Working Group
        Multiple tumours in survival estimates.
        Eur J Cancer. 2009; 45: 1080-1094
        View in Article

      13. Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute. SEER site recode <http://seer.cancer.gov/siterecode/icdo3_d01272003/> [accessed 18.07.08].

        View in Article

      14. Ries LAG, Melbert D, Krapcho M. et al. SEER cancer statistics review, 1975–2005. National Cancer Institute: Bethesda MD; 2008. <http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2005>.

        View in Article
        • Gatta G.
        • Zigon G.
        • Capocaccia R.
        • et al.
        • the EUROCARE Working Group
        Survival of European children and young adults with cancer diagnosed 1995–2002.
        Eur J Cancer. 2009; 45: 992-1005
        View in Article
        • Capocaccia R.
        • Gatta G.
        • Roazzi P.
        • et al.
        The EUROCARE-3 database: methodology of data collection, standardization, quality control and statistical analysis.
        Ann Oncol. 2003; 14: v14-v27
        View in Article
        • Navarro C.
        The National Death Index: a largely expected advance in the access to mortality data.
        Gac Sanit. 2006; 20: 421-423
        View in Article
        • Brenner H.
        • Söderman B.
        • Hakulinen T.
        Use of period analysis for providing more up-to-date estimates of long-term survival rates: empirical evaluation among 370,000 cancer patients in Finland.
        Int J Epidemiol. 2002; 31: 456-462
        View in Article

      19. Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute SEER∗Stat software. Version 6.4.4; 2008. <www.seer.cancer.gov/seerstat>.

        View in Article
        • Hakulinen T.
        Cancer survival corrected for heterogeneity in patient withdrawal.
        Biometrics. 1982; 38: 933-942
        View in Article
        • Micheli A.
        • Baili P.
        • Quinn M.
        • et al.
        Life expectancy and cancer survival in the EUROCARE-3 cancer registry areas.
        Ann Oncol. 2003; 14: 28-40
        View in Article
        • Baili P.
        • Micheli A.
        • Montanari A.
        • Capocaccia R.
        Comparison of four methods for estimating complete life tables from abridged life tables using mortality data supplied to EUROCARE-3.
        Math Populat Stud. 2005; 12: 183-198
        View in Article
        • Elandt-Johnson R.C.
        • Johnson N.L.
        Survival models and data analysis. Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis1980
        View in Article
        • Corazziari I.
        • Quinn M.
        • Capocaccia R.
        Standard cancer patients population for age standardizing survival ratios.
        Eur J Cancer. 2004; 40: 2307-2316
        View in Article
        • Bossard N.
        • Velten M.
        • Remontet L.
        • et al.
        Survival of cancer patients in France: A population-based study from The Association of the French Cancer Registries (FRANCIM).
        Eur J Cancer. 2007; 43: 149-160
        View in Article
        • Gondos A.
        • Bray F.
        • Brewster D.H.
        • et al.
        Recent trends in cancer survival across Europe between 2000 and 2004: a model-based period analysis from 12 cancer registries.
        Eur J Cancer. 2008; 44: 1463-1475
        View in Article

      27. Cancer in Germany 2003–2004: incidence and trends, 6th ed. Published jointly by the Robert Koch Institute and the Association of Population-based Cancer Registries in Germany; 2008. <http://www.gekid.de/> [accessed 29.09.08].

        View in Article
      28. Swerdlow S.H. Campo E. Harris N.L. WHO Classification of Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues. 4th ed. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France2008
        View in Article
        • Robinson D.
        • Sankila R.
        • Hakulinen T.
        • Møller H.
        Interpreting international comparisons of cancer survival: the effects of incomplete registration and the presence of death certificate only cases on survival estimates.
        Eur J Cancer. 2007; 43: 903-913
        View in Article

      Article info

      Publication history

      Published online: January 07, 2009
      Received in revised form: October 17, 2008
      Received: June 13, 2008

      Identification

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2008.11.003

      Copyright

      © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      ScienceDirect

      Access this article on ScienceDirect

      The content on this site is intended for healthcare professionals.


      We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content. To update your cookie settings, please visit the Cookie Preference Center for this site.
      Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. except certain content provided by third parties.


      RELX