Cancer Control Program

Rhode Island Cancer Control Registry

About the Registry

The Rhode Island Cancer Registry was established by the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1985. It began collecting reports of newly diagnosed cancers on October 1, 1986. 

The Registry is funded by the State and by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is run collaboratively by the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) and the Hospital Association of Rhode Island (HARI). 

The Registry produces official cancer statistics for the State, including an annual report which is posted on this website, and also supplies cancer data to researchers (using strict guidelines for protecting patient confidentiality).

The Rhode Island Cancer Registry is a member of NAACCR, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. NAACCR maintains a web site with comparable cancer rates for all member registries. Cancer rates are available for:

• States in the U.S.
• Selected metropolitan areas in the U.S.
• The U.S.
• Provinces in Canada
• Canada

National cancer statistics are aggregated from state and metropolitan area statistics which pass NAACCR's rigorous quality control standards. NAACCR's latest cancer rates are available for the years 1996-2000. They were published in May, 2003. NAACCR statistics are published in PDF files and must be viewed with the Adobe Acrobat reader (available from the NAACCR web site).

The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results System (SEER) of the National Cancer Institute also publishes cancer rates for the United States. SEER's latest national rates are available for the years 1975-2000. They were published in 2003. SEER's national rates are aggregated from states and metropolitan areas in the SEER registry system. Taken as a whole, SEER states and metropolitan areas cover about ten percent of the United States population.

Registry staff provide support to hospital tumor registries and promote American College of Surgeons approved cancer programs in acute care hospitals throughout the State.