Data linkage to the National Death Index and National Cancer Database

1
Data linkage to the National Death Index and
National Cancer Database

• Mark Short
• Health Registers and Cancer Monitoring Unit

2
Outline of talk

• What the NDI and NCD are
• Examples of linkage projects

3
National Death Index (NDI)

• Source
• State/territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and
  Marriages
• Scope
• All registered deaths from 1st January 1980
• Size
• Over 3.6 million records

4
NDI, continued

• Main fields
• name
• sex
• date of birth
• date of death
• coded causes of death (provided by ABS)

5
National Cancer Database (NCD)

• Source
• State/territory cancer registries
• Scope
• All cancers diagnosed from 1st January 1982
  excluding basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas
  of the skin
• Size
• Over 1.7 million records

6
NCD, continued

• Main fields
• name
• sex
• date of birth
• date of death (if dead)
• date of diagnosis
• type of cancer (topography and morphology)

7
Volume of NDI/NCD linkage work

• So far this year, 49 linkages
• 24 first-time linkages for new projects
• 25 recurring linkages for existing projects

8
Range of sizes of cohorts

• Smallest this year 20 records
• Largest this year 868,235 records
• Median size this year 1,095 records
• Middle half 464 to 10,910 records

9
Examples of linkages

• Most are epidemiological studies (very diverse in
  nature)
• Some are for maintenance of health registers
• Some are to avoid writing to deceased people (may
  upset relatives)
• Some have two or all of these purposes

10
Examples of linkage projects

• National Diabetes Services Scheme
• Suicide in war veterans
• Cancer survival analysis
• National Joint Replacement Registry
• Australian Longitudinal Study on Womens Health
• Cancer in people with HIV or AIDS

11
Examples, continued

• ABC womens health study
• The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study
• The lead workers study
• Depression as a predictor of long term mortality
  after heart attack
• The 1968 Tasmanian Asthma Study

12
Examples, continued

• Mortality among injecting drug users
• The DRIVE study Preventing injury in young
  drivers
• Does echocardiography predict outcome in diabetes
  patients?
• Estimation of the risk of tuberculosis among
  people with diabetes and end-stage renal failure