Cancer Res Treat.  2001 Dec;33(6):512-519.

Proportion of Death Certificate Only Cases and Its Related Factors, Kwangju Cancer Registry (KCR)

• Lee SJ
• Shin MH
• Kim SY
• Park KS
• Kim YJ
• Hwang TJ
• Choi JS

Abstract

PURPOSE: To ascertain the factors associated with the proportion of death certificate only (DCO) cases contained in the Kwangju Cancer Registry (KCR) that are not as yet in the good range.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The distribution of DCO cases was analyzed by sex, age, cancer site, histological verification (HV) as well as the physician's death certificate status.
RESULTS
All cases (n=4,243) in Kwangju diagnosed as having cancer between 1997 and 1998 were registered with the KCR. Death certificates (n=2,390) reporting cancer as the causes of death were collected from the National Statistics Office and reviewed with hospital data linkage and a total of 590 cases were registered as DCO. DCOs accounted for 12.2% (male 12.8%, female 11.5%) of all registrations in Kwangju, 1997~1998. The proportion of DCO cases was high in subjects under 15 (male13.5%,female 9.4%) as well as those 75 and over (male 20.3%, female 27.2%). For cancer sites, the proportion of DCO cases was high (over 10%) for liver, bronchus-lung, esophagus and pancreas and low (under 3%) for skin, bladder, uteri cervix and breast. The proportion of DCO cases was inversely associated with HV%. When the death certificate was issued by physician, the possibility of DCO decreased.
CONCLUSION
The proportion of DCO is positively associated with increasing age and negatively associated with HV% and the issuance of a physician's death certificate. These findings suggest that further socio-cultural efforts are required to reduce the DCO proportion.

Keyword

Cancer registry; Death certificate; Kwangju; Korea

MeSH Terms

Breast
Cause of Death
Cervix Uteri
Information Storage and Retrieval
Death Certificates*
Esophagus
Female
Gwangju*
Humans
Korea
Liver
Pancreas
Skin
Urinary Bladder
Uterus