Scientific Use File

In order to promote the more intensive use of cancer registry data for the purpose of epidemiological research, the Centre for Cancer Registry Data (ZfKD) – in accordance with the Federal Cancer Registry Data Act (BKRG) - makes the data of the Epidemiological Cancer Registries in Germany available to third parties on application. To that end a justified, particularly scientific interest must be credibly demonstrated.

On approval of the application following assessment by the Advisory Committee of the ZfKD, the anonymised data is made available for the respective planned project.

Start of registration varies by federal state

For the majority of federal states and the administrative district of Münster (NRW), data is available starting from 1999. Exceptions to this are Bavaria (from 2002), Lower Saxony (from 2003), North Rhine-Westphalia (state-wide from 2006), Hesse (from 2007) and Baden-Württemberg (expected from 2012).

In addition, depending on the evaluation purpose, earlier data from the Epidemiological Cancer Registries of Saarland, Hamburg and the administrative district of Münster, as well as from the Joint Cancer Registry of the new federal states and Berlin (successor of the cancer registry of the German Democratic Republic) may also be made available. 

Depending on the type of cancer and the year of diagnosis, differences in the completeness of the registration of newly diagnosed cancer cases may need to be considered. Especially in the early years of a registry, completeness of registration may be low. Details regarding the estimated completeness as well as any other regional factors that may influence the planned analyses will be made available to external data users as part of extensive documentation.

Further information with regard to the data record and the application procedure can be found under the respective menu points.