THE HENRIETTA-BANTING-BREAST-CENTER DATABASE - A MODEL FOR CLINICAL RESEARCH UTILIZING A HOSPITAL-BASED INCEPTION COHORT

The cohort study design has been used successfully in clinical cancer research. Cohorts, however, are valuable only if they produce results which are valid and generalizable. Some hospital-based inception cohor ts satisfy both these requirements and may thus be useful research too ls. The development of one such hospital-based cohort, the Henrietta B anting Breast Centre database, is described. This cohort is composed o f 1097 women diagnosed with primary breast cancer at Women's College H ospital, Toronto, from January 1977 through December 1986. Details of diagnostic procedures, pathology, treatment, dates and sites of recurr ence, and date of death are available on 96% of women. By comparison w ith published series and with the Ontario Cancer Registry, we have dem onstrated validity and generalizability. A major advantage is the read y availability of paraffin tissue blocks on virtually all cases, facil itating analyses of the prognostic importance of specific biologic var iables and immunocytochemical hormone assays. Other completed studies and future uses of the cohort are described.