| The data collected by the
population-based registry serves a wider range of purposes.
Advantages of a population-based cancer registry include
cancer control programs, patient care programs, administrative
programs, and cancer research programs. Data from population-based
registries can be used for monitoring the distribution
of late-diagnosed cancer cases of the types for which
early diagnoses is the strategy for control, especially,
communities, ethnicities, age and other demographic
groups.
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For example, cancer surveillance programs such as SEER
(Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) use cancer statistics
collected by population-based registries to monitor the distribution
of cases of cancer among certain occupations, communities,
ethnicities, ages, and other demographic groups.
The population-based registry plays an important role in
improving patient care programs. Linkage services from this
type of cancer registry for health care providers provide
a cost-effective source of data necessary for clinical programs.
These programs may include follow-up results of a mammography
program, stage of diagnosis data to managed care organizations,
treatment selection data for groups monitoring clinical treatment
guidelines utilization, etc. The cancer registry may also
provide services to hospital cancer programs such as shared
follow-up, death clearance, and pooled data on treatment,
stage, or survival.
Many cancer agencies and organizations
rely on data collected by population-based registries. Based
on accurate and timely cancer statistics, healthcare planners
make decisions on resource allocation, such as the placement
of radiotherapy facilities, proper staffing of cancer control
programs, and “market share” reports for existing facilities.
Statistics provided by population-based registries make it
possible for public health administrators to evaluate suspected
clusters of cancer within communities or population groups.
Cancer research programs benefit greatly
from the data collected by population-based registries: an
unbiased group of cases can be selected for cancer studies
such as studies of the association of cancer and other diseases,
environments, occupations, or other sources of exposures can
be conducted.
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