Cancer Res Treat.  2022 Apr;54(2):352-361. 10.4143/crt.2021.044.

Validation of Cancer Diagnosis Based on the National Health Insurance Service Database versus the National Cancer Registry Database in Korea

• Yang MS
• Park M
• Back JH
• Lee GH
• Shin JH
• Kim K
• Seo HJ
• Kim YA

• KMID: 2528205
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4143/crt.2021.044

Abstract

Purpose
This study aimed to assess the feasibility of operational definitions of cancer patients in conducting cancer-related studies using the claims data from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS).
Materials and Methods
Cancer incidence data were obtained from the Korean Central Cancer Registry, the NHIS primary diagnosis, and from the rare and intractable disease (RID) registration program.
Results
The operational definition with higher sensitivity for cancer patient verification was different by cancer type. Using primary diagnosis, the lowest sensitivity was found in colorectal cancer (91.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 91.7 to 92.0) and the highest sensitivity was found in breast cancer (97.9%; 95% CI, 97.8 to 98.0). With RID, sensitivity was the lowest in liver cancer (91.9%; 95% CI, 91.7 to 92.0) and highest in breast cancer (98.1%; 95% CI, 98.0 to 98.2). In terms of the difference in the date of diagnosis in the cancer registration data, > 80% of the patients showed a < 31-day difference from the RID definition.
Conclusion
Based on the NHIS data, the operational definition of cancer incidence is more accurate when using the RID registration program claims compared to using the primary diagnosis despite the relatively lower concordance by cancer type requires additional definitions such as treatment.

Keyword

National Health Insurance Service; Claim data; Cohort; Incidence; Operational definition; Administrative data; Validation

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Study model. KCCR, Korean Central Cancer Registry; NHIS, National Health Insurance Service; RID, rare and intractable disease.

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  Fig. 2 Differences in the dates of diagnosis between primary diagnosis-based definition, rare and intractable disease-based definition, and Korean Central Cancer Registry.

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  Fig. 3 Proportional differences in the dates of diagnosis using the primary diagnosis in the National Health Insurance Service compared to the Korea Central Cancer Registry.

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  Fig. 4 Proportional differences in the dates of diagnosis using the rare and intractable disease definition compared to the Korea Central Cancer Registry.

Reference

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