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Objective: To examine the effects of an expressive writing intervention (EWI) on cancer-related distress, depressive symptoms, and mood in women treated for early stage breast cancer., Methods: A nationwide sample of 507 Danish women who had recently completed treatment for primary breast cancer were randomly assigned to three 20-min home-based writing exercises, one week apart, focusing on either emotional disclosure (EWI group) or a non-emotional topic (control group). Cancer-related distress [Impact of Event Scale (IES)], depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-Short Form), and negative (37-item Profile of Moods State) and positive mood (Passive Positive Mood Scale) were assessed at baseline and at 3 and 9 months post-intervention. Choice of writing topic (cancer versus other), alexithymia (20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale), and social constraints (Social Constraints Scale) were included as possible moderators., Results: Significant (p<0.01) group differences in mood change from before to immediately after each session suggested successful manipulation. Reductions over time in psychological symptoms were seen in both groups (p<0.05), but no time × group interactions were found. Choice of writing topic moderated effects on IES, with women writing about other themes showing greater reductions in cancer-related avoidance than women writing about their cancer. Fewer depressive symptoms and higher levels of positive mood were seen 3 months post-intervention in women writing about their cancer when compared with the control group. Difficulties describing feelings and externally oriented thinking (20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale) moderated effects on positive mood and IES-total, while no moderating effects were found of social constraints., Conclusions: In concordance with the majority of previous results with cancer patients, no main effects of EWI were found for cancer-related distress, depressive symptoms, and mood. Moderator analyses suggested that choice of writing topic and ability to process emotional experiences should be studied further., (Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

This study examined the quality of International Classification of Diseases-10 colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis coding in the Danish National Registry of Patients (DNRP), using the Danish Cancer Registry (DCR) as a reference. We included all patients in Denmark with a CRC diagnosis in the DNRP and/or in the DCR from 2001 through 2006. Data quality was evaluated by estimating completeness and positive predictive value (PPV) of data in different subcategories of patients. We estimated mortality and date of diagnosis, to evaluate the effect of potential differences in data quality. Overall completeness of data in the DNRP for CRC was 93.4% [95% confidence interval (CI): 93.1-93.7] and the PPV was 88.9% (95% CI: 88.5-89.2). Completeness and PPV improved during the study period. However, the completeness of data for patients >75 years in the 2001-2003 period [88.8% (95% CI: 87.8-89.6)] was lower than average, and cancers in more unspecific locations and cancers in the colorectal junction also had lower estimates (below 90%). There were no differences in survival estimates in the DNRP compared to the DCR. In conclusion, this study shows high CRC data quality in the DNRP measured by completeness and PPV, except in a few subgroups., (© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)