We are delighted to host guest speaker Professor David Roder, Chair of Cancer Epidemiology and Population Health, from the University of South Australia, Centre for Population Health Research, who will be presenting on:

“Developing and testing a population-wide cancer data system for population health research and cancer control.”

Cancer registries in Australia are suitable for monitoring incidence, mortality and survival by primary site and histology type. Coverage is close to complete for all invasive cancers apart from non-melanoma skin cancers. Cancer rates and survival can be monitored by age, sex, socio-economic status, and ethnicity. The roles of cancer registries are changing, however, with a greater emphasis being placed on health-system monitoring and evaluation. To perform this broader role, data are needed on broader characteristics including cancer stage at diagnosis, other prognostic indicators, extent of comorbidity, treatment patterns, toxic effects and other adverse effects of care, time to recurrence/progression, and late effects. The strategies being applied to gain this broader range of data include strengthening the prognostic data held on cancer registries and linking registry data with routine administrative data from immunization and screening registries, hospital inpatient databases, and MBS/PBS claims. Resulting non-identifiable databases can include additional data on patient-reported outcomes and experiences from samples drawn from cancer registries. The special challenges involved in incorporating systemic therapy data in these linked data are described and examples of ongoing projects are outlined.