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ANORACancer Registry

Data quality & methodology

Numbers you can trust

A registry is only as useful as its data are complete, timely and accurate. We measure our own quality with the indicators cancer registries use worldwide, and publish them alongside our figures.

Quality indicators

How we measure ourselves

Illustrative figures
Data completeness
92%The share of the required items recorded for each case.
Timeliness
81%Cases reported within 30 days of diagnosis.
Microscopic verification
74%Cases confirmed by cytology or histology. A high share means reliable diagnoses.
Duplicates resolved
98%Possible duplicate records reviewed, then merged or dismissed.

Methodology

How the figures are built

  1. What counts as a case

    A cancer diagnosis confirmed by a second qualified person, for a patient who agreed to be registered.

  2. Coding

    ICD-O-3 for the tumour's site and type; TNM for its stage; the basis of diagnosis for how it was established.

  3. Rates

    Crude and age-standardised rates per 100,000, on the Segi world standard population; the WHO 2000–2025 standard is available on request.

  4. Small numbers

    Counts from 1 to 4 are never published, so that no one can be recognised from a table.

  5. Test records

    The registry is being tested with simulated records. They are left out of published figures, and labelled wherever they appear.

  6. Revisions

    Late reports and corrections can change recent figures. Every publication gives the date its data were extracted.

Glossary

Words used on this site

Incidence
The number of new cases in a population over a period of time.
Crude rate
New cases divided by the population, per 100,000 people, without adjusting for age.
Age-standardised rate (ASR)
A rate adjusted to a standard age structure, so that populations of different ages can be compared.
Stage
How far a cancer has spread when it is diagnosed, from stage I (localised) to stage IV (spread to distant organs).
Microscopic verification
Confirmation of a diagnosis by examining cells or tissue under a microscope.
De-identified data
Records from which names, contact details and other direct identifiers have been removed.