title: Estimating the completeness of gastric cancer registration in Ardabil/Iran by a capture-recapture method using population-based cancer registry data.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Knowledge of cancer incidences is essential for cancer prevention and control programs. Capture-recapture methods have been recommended for reducing bias and increasing the accuracy of cancer incidence estimations. This study aimed to estimate the completeness of gastric cancer registration by the capture-recapture method based on Ardabil population-based cancer registry data.
  
  
  METHODS
  All new cases of gastric cancer reported by three sources, pathology reports, death certificates and medical records that reported to Ardabil population-based cancer registry in 2006 and 2008 were enrolled in the study. The duplicate cases based on the similarity of first name, surname and fathers names were identified between sources. The estimated number of gastric cancers was calculated by the log-linear method using Stata 12 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 857 new cases of gastric cancer were reported from three sources. After removing duplicates, the reported incidence rates for the years 2006 and 2008 were 35.3 and 32.5 per 100,000 population, respectively. The estimated completeness calculated by log-linear method for these years was 36.7 and 36.0, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that none of the sources of pathology reports, death certificates and medical records individually or collectively fully cover the incident cases of gastric cancer. We can obtain more accurate estimates of incidence rates using the capture-recapture method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran E-mail : p.yavari-grc.sbmu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khodadost
authors.forename: Parvin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yavari
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Babaei
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mosavi-Jarrahi
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sarvi
authors.forename: Kamyar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mansori
authors.forename: Behnam
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Khodadost
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003644:Death Certificates; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D012042:Registries; D012984:Software; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*