Cancer Registration

Abstract

During the nineteenth century a number of authorities pointed out the drawbacks of mortality data; one outcome of this was that at the beginning of the present century attempts were made to collect cancer morbidity data. This was initially done by carrying out a census of patients with the disease; estimates of the prevalence of cancer were obtained for Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Hungary in the first few years of the century. Such a method of data collection was open to considerable error, owing to the difficulty of obtaining the co-operation of all the doctors involved (Dollinger, 1907). Registration of patients treated with radium began in Great Britain in 1928, by the National Radium Commission. Between the two world wars regional cancer registries were set up in various countries; these provided morbidity data of value. In 1942, despite enemy occupation, Denmark became the first country to establish a national registry (Clemmesen, 1965). The other Scandinavian countries soon followed, with registries based on lines practically identical with those of the Danish one. With the inception of the National Health Service, the national cancer registry scheme was launched in England and Wales. It was not until 1962 that all the regions of the country were covered by the scheme (Registrar General, 1968). A scheme for registration was introduced in Scotland in 1958.