Determining the Quality of Breast Cancer Care: Do Tumor Registries Measure Up?
Background: Hospital tumor registries, which provide data that inform health services research and cancer control policies, may be a source of information about quality of cancer care. However, the accuracy of data from such registries is unknown. Objective: To determine the accuracy of tumor registry data by comparing it with data collected from numerous sources for a breast cancer quality improvement project. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Three teaching hospitals with tumor registries in the New York metropolitan area that had participated in the quality improvement project. Patients: All women with newly diagnosed primary breast cancer (stage I or stage II) who were surgically treated at the study hospitals between 1 November 1994 and 31 August 1996. Measurements: Sensitivity and specificity were calculated, and data from the quality improvement project were used as the gold standard. Results: The tumor registries and the quality improvement project had similar inform
