Types of Registries

There are two major types of cancer registries: hospital-based registries and population-based registries. There are two sub-categories under hospital-based registries: single hospital registry and collective registry. Depending on the operators, population-based registries can be administrative, research, or cancer control oriented. Ideally, registries of a combination of the above three functions predominate due to the mission of the primary funding source.

The goals of hospital-based registries include

• Improvement of patient care
• Professional education
• Administrative information
• Clinical research

The goals of population-based registries are

• Cancer prevention
• Early detection
• Determination of cancer rates and trends
• Patterns of care and outcomes
• Research
• Evaluation of control efforts

These two types of cancer registries will be discussed in detail in the following two sections.

There is another type of cancer registry: special cancer registry.

Updated: December 11, 2023