Capture-recapture methods—useful or misleading?

Abstract

Disease registers are used for two main purposes: to measure the incidence or prevalence of a disease, or to study its natural history. For example, the WHO MONICA collaboration was established in the early 1980s to register myocardial infarction and stroke in different populations worldwide, and thus allow comparisons of incidence to be made.¹ Similarly, cancer registries are routinely used to provide data for comparisons of incidence of different cancers between areas of the UK. These purposes clearly require a different breadth of data than a register intended to study the natural history of a disease. For instance, a stroke register in South London, UK, was established not only to measure the incidence of stroke in this area, but also to follow stroke patients over time in order to examine factors affecting outcome and risk factor management.² Quality criteria for stroke incidence registers have been defined, emphasizing the importance of complete, community-based case ascertainment.³