European quality indicators developed by the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer: a first nationwide assessment for the Dutch setting

Purpose: This observational study aims to assess the feasibility of calculating indicators developed by the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC) for the Dutch breast cancer population.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with invasive or in situ breast cancer between 2012 and 2018 were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR). Outcomes of the quality indicators (QI) were presented as mean scores and were compared to a stated norm. Variation between hospitals was assessed by standard deviations and funnel plots and trends over time were evaluated. The quality indicator calculator (QIC) was validated by comparing these outcomes with the outcomes of constructed algorithms in Stata.

Results: In total, 133,527 patients were included. Data for 24 out of 26 QIs were available in the NCR. For 67% and 67% of the QIs, a mean score above the norm and low or medium hospital variation was observed, respectively. The proportion of patients undergoing a breast reconstruction or neoadjuvant systemic therapy increased over time. The proportion treated within 4 weeks from diagnosis, having >10 lymph nodes removed or estrogen negative breast cancer who underwent adjuvant chemotherapy decreased. The outcomes of the constructed algorithms in this study and the QIC showed 100% similarity.

Conclusion: Data from the NCR could be used for the calculation of more than 92% of the ECIBC indicators. The quality of breast cancer care in the Netherlands is high, as more than half of the QIs already score above the norm and medium hospital variation was observed. The QIC can be easy and reliably applied.