Austrian Cancer Registry

Summary

Strengths: The registry is comprised of country-wide statistics on patient hospital discharges and data submission is mandatory by law, ensuring a high level of coverage. The data is internationally comparable and is linked to the Austrian Cause of Death Statistics (Todesursachen). Weaknesses: Data is only as accurate and complete as each hospital's records, and data received by Statistik Austria depends on how forthcoming the individual state (Bundesländer) registries are in submitting data. Patients treated in outpatient facilities are not included in the registry (though this should not be statistically significant as the majority of cancer patients go to the hospital at some point for diagnosis or treatment).

Type of data

Data Source
Other, please specify

Type of Study
Other: Registry

Data gathering method
Registries

Access to data

Conditions of access

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Anonymised microdata (by request); aggregate tables available to the public online

Formats available

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Data collection ongoing since 1983 (30 years). Each year (wave), the sample includes all new cases of cancer in the Austrian population for that year: approx. 6,000-38,000 per year.

First year of collection
1983 marked the first year the data was of sufficient completeness and quality (cancer registry first established in 1969, but online registry provides data since 1983).

Stratification if applicable

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
All of the following institutions at all national, regional, and local levels in Austria are required to participate in the registry: Hospitals, Investigative bodies for the early detection of cancers, Institutes of Pathological Anatomy, Institutes of Forensic Medicine.

Age range
No age range specified

Statistical representativeness
Other, please specify

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
Data collected on: Personal information, hospitalization, information about tumor (type, localisation, histology, stage of tumor), diagnosis, treatment, anamnestic data, if cancer is suspected to have developed due to occupation. Corresponds to Health and Performance Topic

Linkage

Standardisation
ICD-O-3 (International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Version 3) ICD-10 (for publication purposes only: allows for better comparison with mortality data)

Possibility of linkage among databases
This register is linked to the National Cause of Death statistics (Todesursachenstatistik) since 1983. It follows international and European recommendations for cancer incidence reporting, so it should be possible to link data to cross-national database, but this is not explicitly stated.

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
For each cancer registration form completed, the patient identfier field, localisation, and date of diagnosis are mandatory. Other missing fields are accepted. Measurement error (data capture error) is minimised by a two-stage plausability test.

Breaks
No breaks reported

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
No inconsistencies in terminology or coding reported

Governance

Contact information
Nadine Zielonke and Monika Hackl
Statistik Austria
Guglgasse 13
1110 Vienna Austria Phone: Nadine Zielonke: +431711287228/ Monika Hackl: +431711287533
Email: nadine.zielonke(at)statistik.gv.at; monika.hackl(at)statistik.gv.at
Url: http://statcube.at/superwebguest/login.do?guest=guest&db=dekrebs_ext

Timeliness, transparency
Reports are published annually for the previous year's data.