[Comparison of databases of the medical profession: an example in anatomy and pathological cytology]

Medical demographic regulation policy is supported by statistical descriptive and prospective studies on the actual and future supply of medical practitioners. Two main data bases are available in France for these analyses one at the Ministry of Health and the other at the French Medical Council. While both are supposed to be exhaustive and reliable, the official publications of the two institutions provide different data. It is difficult to assess the actual number of French doctors. The task is even more problematic for each individual medical or surgical specialty. Using the medical specialty Pathology as an example, this article compares the quality of the different data bases and underlines some of the structural and dynamic problems which could interfere with the validity of the information. Better cooperation between the different institutions involved would be helpful to contribute to the quality of the data bases and the organization of the medical specialty.