Making the Case for an International Childhood Cancer Data Partnership.

Childhood cancers are a heterogeneous group of rare diseases, accounting for less than 2% of all cancers diagnosed worldwide. Most countries, therefore, do not have enough cases to provide robust information on epidemiology, treatment, and late effects, especially for rarer types of cancer. Thus, only through a concerted effort to share data internationally will we be able to answer research questions that could not otherwise be answered.

Variation in emergency department visits for conditions that may be treated in alternative primary care settings.

The purpose of this report is to examine Ontario's geographic variation in emergency department (ED) visits for conditions that may be treated in alternative primary care settings. We studied all visits to Ontario EDs in 2002/03 and calculated county-specific age-standardized rates. Overall in Ontario, there were 3174 ED visits per 100,000 population aged 1-74 for conditions that could be treated in alternate primary care settings, but rates varied widely across counties.

Geographic disparity in premature mortality in Ontario, 1992-1996.

BACKGROUND: Standardized mortality ratios are used to identify geographic areas with higher or lower mortality than expected. This article examines geographic disparity in premature mortality in Ontario, Canada, at three geographic levels of population and considers factors that may underlie variations in premature mortality across geographic areas. All-cause, sex and disease chapter specific premature mortality were analyzed at the regional, district and public health unit level to determine the extent of geographic variation.

Clinical effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccine. Meta-analysis.

Objective: To determine the clinical effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccine.

Data Sources: Computerized searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and SCISEARCH databases were performed, reference lists of retrieved articles were reviewed, and first authors of published studies were contacted.

Study Selection: Studies of use of pneumococcal vaccines in adults were included if the study design was a randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trial and at least one of the following clinical outcomes was reported: vaccine-type systemic pneumococcal infection, systemic pneumococcal infection, vaccine-type pneumococcal pneumonia, pneumococcal pneumonia, non-vaccine-type pneumococcal pneumonia.

Cancer incidence and mortality across Canada.

Objectives: This article analyses provincial and territorial patterns in incidence and mortality rates for selected cancer sites.

Data Sources: Cancer incidence data were obtained from the National Cancer incidence Reporting System and from the Canadian Cancer Registry. Mortality data are from the Canadian Vital Statistics Data Base.