[A Systematic Review of Clinical and Epidemiological Studies Using Record Linkage Data between Hospital Based Cancer...

Recently, registry-based cancer research linking biobanks with clinical information has become practical. In fact, hospital-based cancer registries(HBCR)are considered appropriate for basic medical information provision to link with biospecimen data since they can capture accurate information about cancer incidence and prognosis. The aim of this systematic review was to examine HBCR and biospecimen data uses in clinical and epidemiological studies.

We searched PubMed and Google Scholar for articles regarding HBCR and biospecimen data uses published before November 2019. Selected articles were summarized by study design into HBCR usage, biospecimen data usage, exposure, outcome, informed consent, and participant numbers.

Of the 2,767 identified articles, 148 studies were included in this review. In cohort studies, most HBCR usage was noted for patient selection, and most biospecimen data usage was factors affecting prognosis. Meanwhile, in case-control studies, most HBCR usage was noted for cancer incidence identification, and most biospecimen data usage was factors affecting cancer incidence.

HBCR and biospecimen data usage in clinical and epidemiological studies were found to be different based on study design. Linkage of HBCR and biospecimen data will enable researchers to conduct clinical and epidemiological studies that correspond to varying research question types.