In this section, we report three data quality indicators: proportion of cases verified by death certificate only (DCO%), proportion of microscopically verified (by cytology or histology of metastasis or of primary tumour) cases (MV%) and mortality to incidence (M:I) ratios for the main diagnostic cancer groups according to the third version of the International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC31). We report these indicators for 10-year calendar periods starting in 1993, separately for children (0-14 years old) and adolescents (15-19 years old). For adolescents, we present two tables with DCO% and MV%: one including all diagnoses in Switzerland, and one including for each calendar period only the diagnoses in cantons with a cantonal cancer registry (CCR). The reported quality indicators are subject to considerable random variation and should be interpreted with caution.
A detailed description of the quality indicators DCO%, MV%, and M:I ratio can be found in the document “Swiss annual Data Quality Report” (Cancer Registration Act, CRA; SR 813.33) (see paragraph 6). Some further technical aspects on the implementation of these quality indicators in the Childhood Cancer Registry (ChCR) can be found here.
The tables and figures of this section can be cited as follows: Title of figure or table (2025). Figures: Completeness of case ascertainment. Childhood Cancer Registry. URL https://www.childhoodcancerregistry.ch. Accessed: date.
1 Steliarova-Foucher E, Stiller C, Lacour B, Kaatsch P. International Classification of Childhood Cancer, third edition. Cancer. 2005 Apr 1;103(7):1457-67. doi: 10.1002/cncr.20910. PMID: 15712273.