• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.7
• /
• pp.4455-4457
• /
• 2013

In the new millennium people are facing serious challenges in health care, especially with increasing non-communicable diseases (NCD). One of the most common NCDs is cancer which is the leading cause of death in developed countries and in developing countries is the second cause of death after heart diseases. Cancer registry can make possible the analysis, comparison and development of national and international cancer strategies and planning. Information technology has a vital role in quality improvement and facility of cancer registries. With the use of IT, in addition to gaining general benefits such as monitoring rates of cancer incidence and identifying planning priorities we can also gain specific advantages such as collecting information for a lifetime, creating tele medical records, possibility of access to information by patient, patient empowerment, and decreasing medical errors. In spite of the powerful role of IT, we confront various challenges such as general problems, like privacy of the patient, and specific problems, including possibility of violating patients rights through misrepresentation, omission of human relationships, and decrease in face to face communication between doctors and patients. By implementing appropriate strategies, such as identifying authentication levels, controlling approaches, coding data, and considering technical and content standards, we can optimize the use of IT. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the need for identifying positive and negative effects of modern IT on cancer registry in general and specific aspects as an approach to cancer care management.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.7
• /
• pp.3113-3118
• /
• 2012

Introduction: Cancer is the second cause of death in Kuwaiti people after cardiovascular diseases. This study is the first in the country to describe epidemiological measures related to cancer in this population. Methods: Data obtained from the Kuwait cancer registry included all Kuwaiti patients between years 2000-2009. Analyses were conducted using age-specific rates, the age-standardization-direct method, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), cumulative risk by the age of 74 years, limited-duration prevalence, mortality and forecasting to year 2029. Results: It was noted that the commonest cancer sites were colorectal with an age standardized incidence rate (ASIR) of 16.1/100,000 in males and breast (49.4/100,000) in the female population. The trend of cancer incidence (1974-2009) showed no statistically significant change. First causes of death due to cancer were female breast 8(6.4-9.6)/100,000 and lung (males) 8.1/100,000 (6.6-10.0). The risk of developing cancer by the age of 74 was 13.4% (1/8) and 14.3% (1/7) in males and females respectively, and the risk of dying from cancer in the same age group was 1/17 and 1/23. By the end of 2009, prevalent cases represented 0.52% of the Kuwaiti population. In the year 2029, the total number of cancer cases is expected to reach 1200 cases compared to 889 cases in 2009. Conclusions and recommendations: The most common cancers in Kuwait (breast, colorectal and lung) are largely preventable. Prompt and effective interventional prevention programs that vigorously involve diet, anti-smoking and physical activity for both sexes are urgently required.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.255-262
• /
• 2006

Objectives: This study is conducted to identify the cancer incidence in Gwangju during the 5-year period from 1998 to 2002 and to assess the completeness and validity of the cancer registry data during this time period. Methods: All cases that had a diagnosis of invasive cancer (ICD-10 sites C00-C97) during the study period were retrieved from the records of the Gwangju Cancer Registry (GCR), which theoretically includes all the cancer cases in Gwangju. All the cases during the study period were analyzed by gender, age group and cancer sites. The completeness (mortality/incidence ratio and age-specific incidence curve) and validity (histologic verification, primary site unknown, age unknown and death certificate only) of the cancer registry in Gwangju were analyzed by gender, age group and cancer sites for the 5-year period. Results: The overall cancer incidence was higher in the males than in the females (age-standardized incidence rates (ASR) 299.8 and 172.4 per 100,000, respectively). In males, the most common cancer was stomach (ASR: 65.8), followed by liver (ASR: 50.5), bronchus and lung (ASR: 50.5), colo-rectum (ASR: 26.7), oesophagus (ASR: 10.6), and bladder (ASR: 10.3) in descending order. In females, the most common cancer was stomach (ASR: 26.8), followed by thyroid (ASR: 20.7), breast (ASR: 20.4), cervix uteri (ASR: 14.3), bronchus and lung (ASR: 13.0), liver (ASR: 10.7) and colo-rectum (ASR: 17.2) in descending order. The overall quality (completeness and validity) of the cancer registry was at the in 'good' level. Conclusions: These results will be useful in the overall context of planning and evaluating of cancer control activities in Gwangju.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.260-265
• /
• 2013

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the seasonal variation of death from intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation and suffocation (HSS: Korean Standard Classification of Diseases-6 code: X70) using the 2011 death registry data. Methods: The analysis was based on data of 8,359 HSS deaths from 2011 national vital statistics in Korea. Daily, weekly, and monthly death pattern on HSS were used to examine the relationship seasonal variation and HSS deaths. Results: A total of 8,359 HSS deaths occurred in 2011, with a mean age of 50.6 years. The HSS death rate (per 100,000) was 25.5 in male and 10.8 in female. In one day 17.6 males and 8.0 females occurred HSS death on average. The number of HSS death per day was the highest on 8th June (45 deaths), and lowest on 1st February (7 deaths) during the period. The variations of daily HSS death showed wide fluctuation from a peak of 34 to 45 deaths (29th May to 9th June) to a trough of 17-26 deaths (10th-13th September: the Korean thank-giving consecutive holidays), 13-20 deaths (2nd-5th February: the new year's day by the lunar calendar) and 8-9 deaths (24th-25th December: Christmas holidays). There were no significant difference between gender and seasonal variation (month, season, and week). Conclusion: The mean number of HSS death per day was highest in June (30.6 deaths), and months with the lowest number of deaths was January and December (range, 19.4 to 19.6 deaths). HSS death were more prevalent during summer and spring and were less likely to occur during winter. On Saturdays (21.0 deaths), the number of HSS death per day was the lowest, and Monday (27.9 deaths) was the highest. HSS death was less likely to occur on holidays (21.4 deaths). There was significant seasonal variation in HSS death by weekly and monthly (p<0.01).

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.149-158
• /
• 1998

In this paper we suggest the joint model of death times and counts with covariates. We assume that the death times follow a Weibull distribution with rate that depends on covariates. For the counts, a Poisson process is assumed with the intensity depending on time and the covariates. We obtain the maximum likelihood estimators of model parameters. This model is applied to data set of patients with breast cancer who received a bone marrow transplant.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.27 no.4 s.48
• /
• pp.735-745
• /
• 1994

The incidence data (1991. 7. 1$\sim$1992. 6. 30) from the Implementation Study of Seoul Cancer Registry (ISSCR) were evaluated in terms of its completeness and validity. Two indicators for the completeness, Mortality/Incidence ratio (M/I ratio) and Age-specific Incidence Curve, showed fairy good registration throughout the age-sex specific strata, except the strata aged over 75 years old. The strata had very high M/I ratio (over 100%) and decreasing pattern of incidence, which suggested incomplete registration of cancer in this group. The active surveillance by a ISSCR staff improved the registration rate especially among elderlies. From the site specific M/I ratio, we found that liver cancer had oddly high M/I ratio. Since this high M/I ratio of liver cancer appears consistently in other reliable cancer registries, it is more like to be due to the high fatality of it rather than incomplete registration. The validity of the incidence data was assessed by three indicators; Histological Verification (HV%), Primary Site Unknown (PSU%), and Age Unknown (Age UNK%). The average HV% were 77% for men and 85% for women, which were slightly lower than those of other reliable cancer registries. This low HV% might be due to the considerable size of relative frequency of liver cancer in Korea, regarding the fact that the diagnosis of liver cancer is made mostly by non-biopsical radiologic methods (CT, Ultrasono, Angiography, MRI etc.). The level of PSU% and Age UNK% were in acceptable range, but not low enough, especially in terms of Age UNK%. Although ISSCR data had acceptable quality in general, it is needed to have more hospitals participate in the registry surveillance, to make registery data merged with death certificate data regulary, and educate the registration stans to be more competent and dedicated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.2141-2144
• /
• 2014

Background: Gastric cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death. It has a poor prognosis with only 5-10% of hereditary etiology. If it is diagnosed, it could be helpful for screening the other susceptible members of a family for preventive procedures. Usually it is identified by symptoms such as presence of cancer in different members of family, some special type of pathology such as diffused adenocarcinoma, having younger age and multiple cancer syndromes. Hence, designing a registry program can be a more practical way to screen high risk families for a preventive program. Materials and Methods: Based on the inclusion criteria, a questionnaire was prepared. After pilot on a small number of patients, the actual data was collected from 197 patients and processed in SPSS 16.0. Results: Totally, 11.8% of the patients were younger than 45 years old. Blood type 'A' was dominant and males had a higher risk behavior with higher consumption of unhealthy food. Adenocarcinoma was reported in majority of cases. 21.8% of the patients had the including criteria for familial gastric cancer (FGC). Conclusions: The high percentage of FGC population compared to the other studies have revealed a need to design an infrastructural diagnostic protocol and screening program for patients with FGC, plus preventive program for family members at risk which could be done by a precise survey related to frequency and founder mutations of FGC in a national registry program.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.9
• /
• pp.5367-5370
• /
• 2013

Background: Having knowledge or estimation of cancer incidence is necessary for planning and implementation of any cancer prevention and control programs. Population-based registries provide valuable information to achieve these objectives but require extra techniques to estimate the incidence rate. The present study aimed to estimate the esophageal cancer incidence using a log-linear method based on Tehran population-based cancer registry data. Materials and Methods: New cases of esophageal cancer reported by three sources of pathology reports, medical records, and death certificates to Tehran Metropolitan Area Cancer Registry Center during 2002-2006 were entered into the study and the incidence rate was estimated based on log-linear models. We used Akaike statistics to select the best-fit model. Results: During 2002-2006, 1,458 new cases of esophageal cancer were reported by the mentioned sources to the population-based cancer registry. Based on the reported cases, cancer incidence was 4.5 per 100,000 population and this was estimated to be 10.5 per 100,000 by the log-linear method. Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that an estimated incidence for 2004 of 8.3 per 100,000 population could be a good benchmark for the incidence of esophageal cancer in the population of Tehran metropolis.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.213-217
• /
• 2007

Objectives : This study aimed to calculate the survival rates of cancer patients in Jeju Island residents from 2000 to 2001, based on their major primary sites of occurrence. Methods : Data were extracted from the database of the Jejudo Cancer Registry (JCR). The eligible population comprised 2,382 cancer cases, whose cancers were diagnosed from 1 January 2000 through 31 December 2001. Of the eligible population, 1,438 patients with 5 major cancers defined by the level of incidence rates were selected as the study participants. The period of survival for each case was calculated from the date of first diagnosis to the date of death, or the end of follow-up, i.e., 31 December 2003. The observed survival rates (OSR) and relative survival rates (RSR) were calculated according to sex, age-group, and primary sites of occurrence. Results : The 3-year OSR and RSR in 5 major cancers were higher in women than in men except 75 year-old over group. The 3-year RSR of stomach, colorectum, liver, and lung in both sexes were 61.0%, 62.6%, 24.7%, and 22.8%, respectively. The respective rates in JCR showed some statistically significant differences from those in the Korea Central Cancer Registry (KCCR). Conclusions : These results would suggest some clues about prognostic factors of major cancers in Korean, and could apply to planning and evaluating of cancer control strategies in Jeju Island.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.1-4
• /
• 2014

Objective : The case fatality rate of nonlesional intracerebral hemorrhage (n-ICH) was high and not changed. Knowing the causes is important to their prevention; however, the reasons have not been studied. The aims of this study were to determine the cause of death, to improve the clinical outcomes. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed consecutive cases of nonlesional intracerebral hemorrhage in a prospective stroke registry from January 2010 to December 2010. Results : Among 174 patients ($61.83{\pm}13.36$, 28-90 years), 29 patients (16.7%) died during hospitalization. Most common cause of death was initial neurological damage (41.4%, 12/29). Seventeen patients who survived the initial damage may then develop various potentially fatal complications. Except for death due to the initial neurological sequelae, death associated with immobilization (such as pneumonia or thromboembolic complication) was the most common in eight cases (8/17, 47.1%). However, death due to early rebleeding was not common and occurred in only 2 cases (2/17, 11.8%). Age, initial Glasgow Coma Scale, and diabetes mellitus were statistically significant factors influencing mortality (p<0.05). Conclusion : Mortality of n-ICH is still high. Initial neurological damage is the most important factor; however, non-neurological medical complications are a large part of case fatality. Most cases of death of patients who survived from the first bleeding were due to complications of immobilization. These findings have implications for clinical practice and planning of clinical trials. In addition, future conduct of a randomized study will be necessary in order to evaluate the benefits of early mobilization for prevention of immobilization related complications.