Challenges of cancer registration and epidemiology in Italy

Abstract

We outline the history and role of cancer registration in Italy. Since the ‘70s, local population-based registries were established, representing up to nowadays a valuable national surveillance network. In this framework, the Italian Association of Cancer Registries (AIRTUM) has been playing a central role, ensuring high data quality standards and supporting cancer registry-based research. Over the years, difficulties for cancer registration arose due to a strict and non-uniform application of data protection rules, to the gap in digitalization of health data primary sources, which feed population-based cancer registries (PBCRs), and, more recently, to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy affected not only cancer surveillance but also cancer screening and access to care. Despite the above-mentioned limitations, an unprecedented coverage of cancer surveillance on the Italian population (about 80 %) was reached for the present study, representing a substantial contribution in the perspective of the long-lasting establishment of a national cancer registry. This commentary introduces a series of manuscripts updating the landscape of descriptive cancer epidemiology, highlighting at the same time the challenges of cancer registration, in Italy. • Population-based registries (PBCRs) represent a national surveillance network, ensuring coverage of 80 % of Italian population. • The Italian Association of Cancer Registries ensured high data quality standards and supported cancer registry-based research. • A series of articles provides a landscape of cancer epidemiology in Italy, based on 3,032,435 cancer cases (2008-2017) from 34 PBCRs. • The increasing trend of number of cancer cases and crude rates shrinks despite continuous ageing of Italian population. • The sex gap between males and females in Italy in terms of cancer incidence and mortality tends to close.

Topics & Concepts