NPCR–EDITS (Exchangeable-edits, Data-dictionary, and Information Translation Standard) is a comprehensive suite of tools provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve the quality and consistency of cancer registry data. The tools standardize how data items are checked for validity, ensuring adherence to national standards like those from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR), the National Cancer Institute's SEER Program, and the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC)/NCDB.
Key Components:
- EditWriter: A versatile development environment for standard-setters to define, test, document, and distribute data standards (rules) in an executable form known as a metafile.
- GenEDITS Plus: A batch-mode application for applying standard edits to any standard cancer data file using a metafile, generating a comprehensive error report. This is the fastest way to apply standard edits without programming.
- Edit Engine: A library of C language functions (distributed as a DLL for Windows and a shared object for Linux) that can be incorporated into other programs for real-time, field-by-field editing during data entry, data verification, recoding, and reformatting.
- EDITS60API: A web API providing RESTful HTTP endpoints to edit functions, compatible with any client application and hostable on both Windows and Linux machines.
Main Benefits & Use Cases:
- Defining and enforcing data quality standards for cancer surveillance.
- Achieving real-time field-by-field editing in interactive data collection systems.
- Batch-editing processes for data already collected.
- Preparing cancer data for analysis and submission to national bodies (e.g., NCDB, SEER).
- Providing portable edit logic via metafiles (SQLite databases) that can be applied across different hardware and software platforms.