Finnish Cancer registry

produces descriptive information on the magnitude of and predicted changes in the cancer situation (incidence, prevalence and mortality) in Finland;
produces countrywide and regional estimates for cancer patient survival for monitoring and comparison purposes;
conducts analytical research into the cancer problem using advanced methods of epidemiology and biostatistics, e.g., on causes of cancer and effectiveness of cancer control interventions, provides data to outside researchers and helps them in the design and execution of the studies;
acts as an expert organisation in questions related to cancer epidemiology, and in planning and evaluation of mass-screening programmes and other actions against cancer, and
develops new methods for epidemiological and biostatistical research, and supervises doctoral disserations.

CANCER REGISTRATION

The first complete year of countrywide cancer registration in Finland was 1953. The National Board of Health requested all physicians, hospitals and laboratories to notify all diagnosed or suspected cases of cancer to the Finnish Cancer Registry. This notification has been compulsory since 1961.

The notifications, supplemented by death certificate information from Statistics Finland, are built into a database suitable for statistical use. Tables and other summarising information are assembled from this database, e.g., to be published as reports from the Cancer Registry and as a part of official statistics of Finland and of the European Union. In principle, the database contains information on all cancer cases diagnosed in residents of Finland since 1953. For solid tumours, the completeness of the registration has been shown to be over 99% (Teppo et al. 1994).

During the more than 50 years of the Finnish Cancer Registry, some 1500 scientific articles and about 100 doctoral dissertations have been published where Registry's scientists or the data have had a central role. Research related to the countrywide screening programmes of cancers of the cervix and breast is conducted at the Mass-Screening Registry that is a part of the Finnish Cancer Registry. Recently, the Mass-Screening Registry has initiated the nationwide screening programme for colorectal cancer - the first of its kind in the world.

Registered patient data can only be used for scientific research and statistics. Special tabulations are produced at request. Scientists requiring individual patient data are obliged to apply for a permission from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare or THL (National Institute for Health and Welfare, THL).