Cancer Registration Techniques in the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union

This text reports the results of a survey conducted in Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, to investigate practices in cancer registration and to compare these with practices followed in Western countries.

Noting that conditions in the former Soviet Union created gaps in knowledge about how incidence data are collected and recorded, the survey gathered information on current practices in registries operating in urban and rural areas within each country, and in registries operating in regions contaminated with radiation following the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

The survey also assessed procedures followed in the statistical reporting of cancer incidence data in national registries.

A description of materials and methods used in the survey is followed by general background information about the former Soviet Union, including the historical development of its social and administrative system.

Chapter Three discusses the design of the cancer registration system within the context of the Soviet healthcare system. Features discussed include health planning and the policy of free medical care, cultural reasons why patients with serious diseases such as cancer were not informed of the diagnosis, and differences in care in urban and rural areas.

Against this background, cancer registration techniques used in these countries are discussed, emphasizing questions of data quality and usefulness in national and international research.

The report also reproduces, in Russian and English, a large number of forms used in data collection, recording, and reporting in the cancer registries surveyed.