Cancer registries are essential tools for monitoring cancer. There are four main components to the quality of this type of registry: completeness, validity of data, timeliness of access to data, and range of data available.
Completeness refers to the ability of a cancer registry to identify and register all new cancer cases diagnosed within a population. Completeness can vary considerably from one place to another, because of variations in resources and data collection methods, or variations in diagnostic examinations. An excellent level of completeness is essential in order to produce accurate statistics and conduct valid studies on cancer in a population. Evaluating the completeness of registration of new cases is therefore a priority activity for all cancer registries.
The completeness of the cancer registry is an especially important concern for Quebec. In Canada's other provinces, several sources are used to supply data to the cancer registries, foremost of…