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The need to build on recent progressa defined population from multiple sources
(such as laboratories, hospitals, hospices
and statistics departments), which allows
for tracking cancer incidence over time.^40
Cancer registries are crucial in constructing
complete epidemiological profiles to guide
policy development. Dr Sarria mentions an
example of crucial evidence needed for policy
design: “In the Sierra Norte of Peru 50% of
breast-cancer cases occur in women younger
than 50. The general guideline is to begin
screening after 50 years.” Hence, evidence
from registries can be used to adjust screening
strategies.In our examination, only Paraguay is lacking a
population-based cancer registry. Registries
have existed in the analysed countries for
decades, with Cali’s Registro Poblacional de
Cáncer de Cali (1962) or São Paulo’s Registro
de Câncer de Base Populacional de São Paulo
(1969) being pioneers.41, 42 The most recent
ones in this group of countries are Bolivia’s
initiative for developing the Registro Nacional
del Cáncer in 2012 (although reportedly with
limited activity so far), and Mexico’s recent
attempt to consolidate the data from main
cities.^43 “In Mexico there is a lag of high-quality
information, but there is interest in addressing
this. A network of registries has been createdfrom nine cities. There are resources, but this
has started in 2016, according to Alejandro
Mohar, head of the Comisión Coordinadora
de Institutos Nacionales de Salud y Hospitales
de Alta Especialidad. In Peru, augmenting the
coverage of the cancer registry (to 36%) will
be a priority of the upcoming cancer plan,
according to Dr Sarria.The limitations of lacking a cancer registry
for a systematic country response to cancer
are noted by Dr Mitsui: “It is not possible to
make projections without a registry.” But even
if most countries do have a cancer registry,
there are noticeable differences in the scope
and quality of the data. Costa Rica and
Uruguay have the most advanced registries,
according to the ICP. They have national
coverage and offer high-quality data.^44 Our
review considers as the most complete
registries those that collect data on attributes
such as incidence, demographics, tumour
characteristics, stage of disease, treatment
and outcomes, with frequent data updates
and releases.The Union for International Cancer Control
(UICC) suggests that in spite of resource
limitations, any country can have a registry
even if it relies on regional data, which can
be extrapolated to the national level.^45
Colombia is an example. The country’s
national data rely on regional registries in
Cali, Bucaramanga, Pasto and Manizales, and
the Sistema de Información de Cáncer de(^41) Registro de Câncer de Base Populacional de São Paulo, “Histórico”.
(^42) Marion Piñeros et al., “Cancer registration for cancer control in Latin America: a status and progress report”, Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, 2017.
(^43) Gob.mx, Impulsa Fundación Registro Nacional de Cáncer, 2017.
(^44) Marion Piñeros et al., “Cancer registration for cancer control in Latin America: a status and progress report”, Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, 2017.
(^45) UICC and IARC, “Cancer registries: why, what and how?”.
(^46) Gobierno de Colombia, “Información de Cáncer en Colombia”.
(^47) C Allemani et al., “Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival 2000–14 (CONCORD-3): analysis of individual records for 37 513 025 patients diagnosed
with one of 18 cancers from 322 population-based registries in 71 countries”, Lancet, 2018