Prevalence of Missing Data in the National Cancer Database and Association With Overall Survival

Abstract

Real-world evidence derived from real-world data (RWD) has substantial potential to accelerate innovation within oncology. Real-world data sources, which include routinely collected information on patient health status and/or the delivery of health care,¹ are becoming increasingly relevant because of the high cost and slow pace of randomized clinical trials as well as the growth of almost real-time access to electronic health records and other digital sources of comprehensive health-associated data. Real-world data sources may represent a flexible and cost-effective way to investigate clinical interventions and can supplement data from clinical trials. Within the oncology field, investments have been made to develop RWD sources for clinical evidence generation, both at the national level and within professional societies.^2-5