The linkage of state all-payer claims database with state cancer registry provides an excellent opportunity to assess regular mammography use in women with breast cancer prior to and following breast cancer diagnosis.

Read the article in JPHMP

Regular breast cancer mammography screenings can help detect breast cancer, the most commonly occurring cancer among US females, at an earlier stage resulting in reduced the risk of dying from breast cancer. State cancer registries provide detailed information on cancer characteristics but lack information on history of cancer screenings and preventive behaviors. Data linkages provide an excellent opportunity to study long-term healthcare use and use of preventive services in patients with chronic conditions. In our “Rhode Island (RI) Women’s Breast Cancer Mammography Use Prior to and After Cancer Diagnosis: Linkage of RI Cancer Registry Data with RI All-Payer Claims Database” study, we describe the case of how linking RI state all-payer claims database with the RI cancer registry database and RI women cancer screening program can help understand long-term mammography use in women with breast cancer.

By these data linkages, we sought to address a measurement gap in assessing RI women’s regular mammography use, breast cancer diagnostic and other related follow-up procedures which are not readily available in cancer registries. Not only that, but we also sought to emphasize the utility of data linkages to study cancer outcomes, especially in vulnerable populations who may not have same continuous health insurance coverage.

Study findings:

1. The data linkage of RI all-payer claims database with RI cancer registry had a high matching rate of 82%.
2. A larger proportion of women in the RI women cancer screening program had Medicaid than RI general women.
3. The proportion of women in the RI women cancer screening program with mammography use in two years prior to their cancer diagnosis was similar to that found in the general RI women. However, the use of regular mammography use following their breast cancer diagnosis was higher in the general RI women than those in the RI women cancer screening program.
4. Use of regular mammography was also associated with diagnoses of early-stage breast cancer.

Our study is an excellent illustration of how data linkages can provide a unique tool to assess detailed information on healthcare use not obtained in disease registries. Such data linkages also provide a great resource to perform large scale state-level studies to study cancer outcomes.

To learn more about our study and its findings, read “Rhode Island (RI) Women’s Breast Cancer Mammography Use Prior to and After Cancer Diagnosis: Linkage of RI Cancer Registry Data with RI All-Payer Claims Database” in the March 2024 volume of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

Ami Vyas, PhD, MS, MBA, is an Associate Professor of Health Outcomes in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research at the University of Rhode Island, College of Pharmacy, Kingston, RI.

Co-authors:

Shweta Kamat, PhD, is an Associate Research Scientist at Open Health. Shweta conducted the study when she was a doctoral student at University of Rhode Island, College of Pharmacy, Kingston, RI.

Junhie Oh, MPH, BDS, is with the Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence, RI.