Survival of death certificate initiated registrations: Selection bias, incomplete trace-back or higher mortality?
Cases first notified to a Registry and successfully followed back have an apparently worse prognosis than cases registered in life. A simple approach can be used to assess whether this is due to selection bias, incomplete follow-back or intrinsically higher mortality. For the colorectal, breast and stomach cancers studied and for comparable registries, the main explanations are likely to be selection bias and higher mortality.
Silcocks
P
P
Trent Cancer Registry, 5 Old Fulwood Road, Sheffield S10 3TG, England. paul.silcocks@trentcancer.nhs.uk
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D003644:Death Certificates; D005260:Female; D006753:Hospital Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015983:Selection Bias