As cancer information regarding American veterans is being under-reported, state and national data will be deficient and unreliable, messing up American cancer surveillance efforts, says a World Focus report in The Lancet Oncology, September issue.
According to a report obtained by The Lancet Oncology, there has been a steep fall in VA (Veteran Affairs) reporting of new cancer cases to California registries. In 2004 there were 3,000 cases, while by the end of 2005 the number dropped to almost zero. VA hospitals in other US states are inconsistent in their reporting, and have been so for a long time, making US-wide cancer rates seem lower than they really are.
According to Dennis Deapen, Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program, leaving out veteran data would introduce “uncorrectable bias” in epidemiological studies. He added that this problem also makes it harder to identify quality-of-care concerns for VA cancer patients.
The Lancer Oncology obtained a draft version of the VA policy directive on cancer reporting. It revealed that the directive will formalize the prohibitions on sharing veteran cancer information between states and forbid the “re-release” of veteran information to scientists involved in studies the VA has not approved.
Elizabeth Ward, American Cancer Society, says this could become a serious issue for the legitimacy of epidemiological studies. The final directive has been posted on the VA website (PDF).
Written by: Christian Nordqvist