Quality control measures have been established to check the completeness, accuracy and validity of the data. The percentage of morphologically verified cases (MV%), and the percentage of cases identified by death certificate only (DCO%) are two common quality indicators for assessing data completeness. Ideally the MV% and DCO% should be 100% and 0% respectively. In our data collected, the MV% has improved significantly from 55% in 1983 to near 90% in 2021. The DCO% was 13.3% in 1983 and dropped to just 0.3% in 2021 (For details, please refer to Graphs of Data Quality Indicators), having achieved the highest standard for developed countries as depicted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, WHO (IARC).
Besides, we apply a series of validation rules on the registered data to ensure accuracy and validity of the data before their release.
The Hong Kong Cancer Registry provides cancer incidence and mortality data in the Territory. Summary of cancer statistics in PDF format since 2009 are available for download at Summary Reports of this website. Earlier data since 1983 can be accessed through our Cancer Statistics Query Systems.
No. The Hong Kong Cancer Registry has yet to provide cancer prevalence data because we lack complete follow-up data on the vital status of the individuals.
Cancer has emerged as a major health problem in most developed countries. In Hong Kong, the total number of new cancer patients has almost quadrupled from 8,900 in mid-70's to over 38,000 in 2021. The crude incidence rate has also increased substantially over the same period from 198 to 519 per 100,000 persons. In recent years, the numbers of female breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and corpus cancer have been significantly increasing. It is projected that new cases will further increase due to an ageing and growing population.
As the Hong Kong Cancer Registry is population-based, we have to collect information on patient's demographics, anatomical site (topography), histology and stage of every cancer case diagnosed in Hong Kong. All these entries must be consolidated, sifted and validated in order to come up with the most accurate diagnosis for an individual patient. In view of the wide variety of information available in the clinical notes, operative records, pathological or radiological reports, as well as the huge volume of raw data, there will be inevitably a time lag before the release of the consolidated and verified cancer figures, which is a common phenomenon recognized in cancer registries all over the world.
Over the past years, we have been able to shorten the reporting lag time to 21-22 months, while exercising strict adherence to the quality control procedures depicted by the International Agency of Cancer Registries (IACR). We will try our best to improve the data quality and further shorten the reporting lag time by continuously reviewing and improving the various registration processes.
Other cancer support institutions in Hong Kong can be found in the Related Links area of this website.