Breast Cancer Surveillance (BCS) is currently in its third five-year cycle. Our current grant, which started in 2005, included the following specific aims:
- To continue collecting Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) core data elements and augment core data collection with other uniquely available Group Health data.
- To incorporate new data collection components pertinent to breast cancer research identified locally and by the BCSC (e.g., new tumor markers and BI-RADS® 6.0).
- To continue extending the uses of our local data collection to non-BCSC investigators, students, fellows, and former BCSC co-investigators for analyses and ancillary studies to address important breast cancer research.
- To continue collaborating with other BCSC sites, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and other non-BCSC investigators using pooled data to address important breast cancer research.
To accomplish these aims, we will
- Keep collecting breast cancer risk factor data on >40,000 women per year.
- Maintain quality control and data confidentiality protections.
- Link breast cancer risk factor data with mammography outcomes data and other Group Health automated data (e.g., pharmacy and treatment). This will augment core BCSC and the western Washington SEER data to ascertain breast cancer diagnoses.
- Track vital status on women after their mammograms.
- Work closely with local investigators from the University of Washington, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to keep proposing and conducting ancillary studies and pooled analyses.
- Work closely with the NCI and other members of the BCSC as active participants in data collection, quality control, and analyses.
By accomplishing our specific aims, we will maintain NCI’s ability to rapidly address breast cancer screening policy questions; extend the utility of the BCSC data resource locally, nationally, and internationally; and contribute high-quality, population-based data on the continuum of breast care to the pooled Consortium data.