Written question asked by Lord Barker of Battle (Conservative) on Tuesday, 29 October 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 7 November 2002. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Thursday, 7 November 2002 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what instruments have been developed to classify different comorbid diseases; and whether a comorbidity index is a cancer registry requirement.

Answer: Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what instruments have been developed to classify different comorbid diseases; and whether a comorbidity index is a cancer registry requirement. [78951] Ms Blears: There are several methods of monitoring co-morbidity currently available: these include the Kaplan-Feinstein Index, the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS) and the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation (ACE 27). However, not all methodologies are appropriate to all tumour types. Due to the complexities of applying a co-morbidity standard to all cancers there are no current plans to incorporate a co-morbidity index into registry datasets.

Secondary information