A Literature Review to Assess the Use of Claims Databases in Identifying Incident Cancer Cases

Background: Claims databases that include standardized medical and administrative information routinely collected on patients are becoming increasingly prevalent in many industrialized countries. Some of them have a national scope and are an efficient source of information on large heterogeneous patient populations. These databases can help to describe cancer incidence in the absence of national cancer registries. A literature review was performed to describe the use of these databases to identify incident cancer cases.