Data Sources for Clinical T1 Renal Masses and the Potential for Bias

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Oncology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Rising incidence of early-stage kidney cancer necessitates robust comparative effectiveness research.
• Cancer registry and administrative data may introduce bias for small renal masses (SRM) due to lack of standard histologic confirmation.
• Understanding data source limitations is crucial for accurate research findings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare patient population characteristics across three distinct data sources for small renal masses (SRM).
• To identify potential biases in data collection methods for early-stage kidney cancer research.

Main Methods:

• Identified patients with clinical T1 renal masses from 2019-2020.
• Compared data from an institutional cancer registry, a prospective clinical trial, and electronic health record (EHR) extraction.
• Utilized chi-squared, Fisher's exact testing, and multivariable regression for demographic and clinical characteristic comparisons.

Main Results:

• Significant differences observed in cohort composition across the three data sources.
• Active surveillance was more prevalent in the EHR cohort (85%) compared to the registry (48%) and trial (33%) cohorts.
• Registry data capture was limited by radiologic report terminology, impacting completeness.

Conclusions:

• Data sources for early-stage kidney cancer research exhibit varying cohort compositions, particularly concerning active surveillance patients.
• Clinicians should be aware of potential biases when interpreting research findings from different data sources.
• Standardized reporting and revised registry criteria are recommended to improve data quality for kidney cancer research.