The Incidence of Lymphoma in Beijing: Comparing Results from MIS-CASS (2019) and Beijing Cancer Registry (2017)

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the Medical-Insurance-System-based Cancer Surveillance System (MIS-CASS) in estimating cancer incidence by comparing the results with the Beijing Cancer Registry (BCR), which is one of the highest-quality population-based cancer registries in China. METHODS: Using lymphoma as an example, we extracted relevant claims data from the administrative systems of medical insurance in Beijing (2012–2020) and estimated the most current lymphoma incidence in Beijing (2019) using a standard data processing procedure. The absolute number of new cases, crude incidence rate, and age-standardized incidence rate of lymphoma were compared with the latest data reported by the BCR (2017). RESULTS: Both lymphoma incidence rates and age distribution of new cases estimated based on MIS-CASS were similar to the BCR data (crude incidence rate: 9.8/100,000 vs. 10.6/100,000). However, because MIS-CASS included more designated hospitals and covered a larger local stationary population irrespective of household registration (hukou), the absolute number of incident lymphoma cases identified by MIS-CASS was 39.1% higher than that reported by the BCR (2,002 vs. 1,439). CONCLUSIONS: The MIS-CASS approach reflected the actual cancer burden in a more complete and timely manner as compared with the current BCR, providing new insights for improving cancer surveillance strategies in China.