Evaluation of End-of-Life Quality Care Between American Indian and White North Carolina Decedents Diagnosed With Lung Cancer, 2003-2020.

Purpose: Lung cancer mortality rates for American Indians (AIs) are the highest among US race groups. End-of-life (EOL) care presents opportunities to limit aggressive and potentially unnecessary treatment. We evaluated differences in EOL quality of care between AI and White (WH) decedents with lung cancer.

Registry versus claims-based index dates for studies of cancer diagnosis in administrative data.

Purpose: Studies of healthcare encounters leading to cancer diagnosis have increased over recent years. While some studies examine healthcare utilization before the cancer registry date of diagnosis, relevant pre-diagnosis interactions are not always immediately prior to this date due to date abstraction guidelines. We evaluated agreement of a registry date with a claims-based index and examined Emergency Department (ED) involvement in cancer diagnosis as an example of possible pre-diagnostic healthcare misclassification that could arise from improper date choice.

Capturing Catchment Area Data Comprehensively: The North Carolina Cancer Health Assets and Needs Assessment (CHANA) Approach.

Background: A key requirement of community outreach and engagement offices within National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers is to conduct a comprehensive examination of their catchment area's population, cancer burden, and assets. To accomplish this task, we describe the plan for implementing our initiative, the Cancer Health Assets and Needs Assessment (CHANA). CHANA compiles, into a single source, up-to-date data that describes the cancer landscape of North Carolina's 100 counties.

The University of North Carolina Cancer Survivorship Cohort: A Resource for Collaborative Survivorship Research.

Background: Rapid growth in the number of US cancer survivors drives the need for ongoing research efforts to improve outcomes and experiences after cancer. In this study, we describe the University of North Carolina (UNC) Cancer Survivorship Cohort, a medical center-based cohort of adults with cancer that integrates medical record-abstracted cancer information, patient-reported outcomes, and biological specimens.

Methods: Participants ages 18+ were recruited from UNC oncology clinics between April 2010 and August 2016.