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Hawaii Tumor Registry |
The Hawaii Tumor Registry (HTR) is an active surveillance monitoring system for the entire state of Hawaii consisting of 8 major and 124 minor islands, covering 1,367 miles from tip to tip. The resident population is over one million people with around 150,000 visiting each day. The HTR was established in 1960 and became a National Cancer Institute/Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (NCI/SEER) program in 1973. It collects the required SEER demographic and diagnostic items for all malignant melanoma cases, but not for basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas.
As the central statewide collection point for cancer data, the HTR receives data from eight collaborating hospitals with their own Tumor Registries. The HTR staff also gather data from 10 other hospitals in addition to cases from clinics, labs, and private physicians. About 135 attributes are collected for each case at the time of initial patient diagnosis. Patients are followed annually during their lifetime. To ensure accuracy, strict quality control/assurance procedures have been established. These include review of collaborating hospital abstracts for accuracy and completeness by HTR and medical personnel. The HTR also participates in 2 SEER quality control audits each year, along with special NCI/SEER research studies.
The HTR database currently contains 76,760 SEER total cases, of which 2,398 (3.12%) are melanomas. According to the HTR administrator, the years 1973-1995 are incomplete. There is a difference in incidence rates between males and females and among several ethnic groups. The data on malignant melanomas are broken down by ethnicity (Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Caucasian, and total) and gender showing total melanoma cases and rates per 100,000 population, age adjusted to the 1970 US population and broken down in 5 year increments for the years 1971-1990. The incidence rate for malignant melanomas in Hawaii has been increasing for the last 20 years.
Hawaii is unique in that its population is racially diverse with no one ethnicity in the majority. Caucasians represent 23% of the population, Japanese are 21%, Hawaiians are 18%, and Filipinos are 12%. There is also a strong representation of Chinese, Koreans, Puerto Ricans, Samoans, Blacks, Polynesians, Micronesians, Melanesians, and other South East Asian peoples. Both locals and visitors spend a lot of time in the sun, enjoying many outdoor sports and activities year round. Various measures of pollution, such as suspended particulate matter, indicate that Hawaii is one of the cleanest cities in the nation. Due to the state's inviting weather and proximity to the equator, Hawaii has an extensive educational program on sun protection activities for residents and tourists alike, called "Practice *Safe*Sun ~Hawaii~".
Hawaii statistics on a wide variety of malignancies are available to researchers world wide, with 757 requests being completed by the HTR in the last 12 months. Comprehensive control procedures have been established to protect the privacy of patients, families, physicians, and hospitals. All identifying patient information is kept strictly confidential. Use of identified data require a proposal presentation before the Hawaii Cancer Commission and the signing of confidentiality agreements. Aggregate data are available by written request to the HTR.
Available Reports:
Contact Information
Ruth D. Merz, Administrator
Hawaii Health Registries: Hawaii Birth Defects Program/Hawaii Tumor Registry
Cancer Research Center of Hawaii
Universityof Hawai'i at Manoa
1236 Lauhala Street
Honolulu HI 96813Phone: (808) 586-9750 Fax: (808) 587-0024
E-mail: hhr@aloha.net
URL address: http://www.aloha.net/~hhr
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