title: Quality assessment and improvement of nationwide cancer registration system in Taiwan: a review.
abstract: Cancer registration provides core information for cancer surveillance and control. The population-based Taiwan Cancer Registry was implemented in 1979. After the Cancer Control Act was promulgated in 2003, the completeness (97%) and data quality of cancer registry database has achieved at an excellent level. Hospitals with 50 or more beds, which provide outpatient and hospitalized cancer care, are recruited to report 20 items of information on all newly diagnosed cancers to the central registry office (called short-form database). The Taiwan Cancer Registry is organized and funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The National Taiwan University has been contracted to operate the registry and organized an advisory board to standardize definitions of terminology, coding and procedures of the registry's reporting system since 1996. To monitor the cancer care patterns and evaluate the cancer treatment outcomes, central cancer registry has been reformed since 2002 to include detail items of the stage at diagnosis and the first course of treatment (called long-form database). There are 80 hospitals, which count for >90% of total cancer cases, involved in the long-form registration. The Taiwan Cancer Registry has run smoothly for >30 years, which provides essential foundation for academic research and cancer control policy in Taiwan.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei Taiwan Cancer Registry, Taipei.
authors.forename: Chun-Ju
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.affiliation: Taiwan Cancer Registry, Taipei Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: San-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei.
authors.forename: Chien-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei Taiwan Cancer Registry, Taipei.
authors.forename: Ya-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei Taiwan Cancer Registry, Taipei.
authors.forename: Wei-Cheng
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei Taiwan Cancer Registry, Taipei mslai@ntu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Mei-Shu
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lai
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000592:standards; D005544:Forecasting; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000592:standards; D012042:Registries / Q000592:standards*; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Taiwan; cancer registry; data quality; population-based system