The New Zealand PIPER Project: colorectal cancer survival according to rurality, ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation-results from a retrospective cohort study.

Aim: To investigate differences in survival after diagnosis with colorectal cancer (CRC) by rurality, ethnicity and deprivation.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, clinical records and National Collections data were merged for all patients diagnosed with CRC in New Zealand in 2007-2008. Prioritised ethnicity was classified using New Zealand Cancer Registry data; meshblock of residence at diagnosis was used to determine rurality and socioeconomic deprivation.

Methods of a national colorectal cancer cohort study: the PIPER Project.

Aim: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers, and second-leading cause of cancer-related death, in New Zealand. The PIPER (Presentations, Investigations, Pathways, Evaluation, Rx [treatment]) project was undertaken to compare presentation, investigations, management and outcomes by rurality, ethnicity and deprivation. This paper reports the methods of the project, a comparison of PIPER patient diagnoses to the New Zealand Cancer Registry (NZCR) data, and the characteristics of the PIPER cohort.