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MDW Discover  > Scottish Cancer Registry - Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR06) - Research Data Access Pathway subset @ 1760

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https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/39133/2026-06-cancer-registry-data-definitions-v1.pdf

The registry began in 1958 collecting personal, demographic and diagnosis information (such as site, histology, behaviour, histological confirmation and hospital of diagnosis) from cancer patients. In 1997, a new electronic cancer recording system was launched and at this point the registry was extended to include extra information on tumour stage (for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer), tumour grade and treatment information. The dataset also includes geographical data.

HDR UK

Public Health Scotland

Scottish Cancer Registry (SMR06)

This dataset can be linked to others within the Research Data Access Pathway

Month and year of birth

age_incidence

Sex (gender) of the patient. The person’s state of being male or female. For those who have undergone gender re-assignment there may be a mismatch recorded between sex and ICD10 code.

Describes the patient’s perception of their ethnic group. For patients with more than one registration, the ethnic group will be updated to reflect the most recent date option. Different codes have been used over the years, current codes correct from October 2023.

ETHNIC_GROUP

Date of patient’s death. May be entered by the Cancer Information Officer (CIO) if not obtained through linkage to the National Records of Scotland (NRS) (dd-mm-yyyy)

DATE_OF_DEATH

Primary cause of death, obtained through NRS linkage. This is coded using ICD9 for dates of death up to 31 December 1999 and uses ICD10 from 1 January 2000.

CAUSE_1

Other causes of death, obtained through NRS linkage. Coded using ICD9 for dates of death up to 31 December 1999 and uses ICD10 from 1 January 2000. Three secondary causes of death were recorded until 31 December 2012, secondary cause of death was increased to seven fields from 1 January 2013.

CAUSE_2

CAUSE_3

CAUSE_4

Variable added to the file during June 2018. Secondary Cause of death indicates other causes of death. Obtained through NRS linkage and are coded ICD9 until 31.12.1999 (date of death). Deaths from 1.1.2000 are coded in ICD10

CAUSE_5

CAUSE_6

CAUSE_7

CAUSE_8

Indicates that the case has first come to light only as the result of a death, as assessed from the source records available at the time the record is confirmed.

DEATH_CERTIFICATE_INITIATED

Indicates that the case has been registered from the death certificate only, since no other evidence of the tumour can be found, that is no information from medical records and no additional source records.

DEATH_CERTIFICATE_ONLY

The date the Registration Officer enters the tumour details on the registry database and has signed it off as complete (all mandatory fields). This is also sometimes known as Date Record First Confirmed.

DATE_OF_REG

Date the cancer became formally known to NHS Scotland

INCIDENCE_DATE

This indicates the side or Laterality (i.e. left or right) in paired organs of the body in which the tumour is located. It is important that this be recorded for paired organs (e.g. breast, kidney, limb, lung, ovary, testis).

SIDE

The anatomical site of origin of the primary tumour, format ICD10

ICD10S_CANCER_SITE

The anatomical site of origin of the primary tumour, format ICDO2

ICDO2_ICDO2

ICDO - International Classification of Diseases for Oncology. Tumour type indicates the morphology (histology) of the tumour and comprises the first four digits of the ICD-O morphology code and a fifth digit which denotes behaviour of the tumour. All registrations with a Scottish incidence date up to and including 31 December 1996 were classified according to the ICDO classification. All registrations with an incidence date up to and including 31.12.1996 should be classified according to the ICDO classification.

TYPE_ICDO

ICD(O)2 - International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (2nd revision). Tumour type indicates the morphology (histology) of the tumour and comprises the first four digits of the ICDO(2) morphology code and a fifth digit which denotes behaviour. All registrations with an incidence date from 1.1.1997 to 31.12.2005 should now be completed with an ICD(O)2 morphology code. There are some differences between ICDO and  ICDO(2) including the change in behaviour of certain tumour types from  one classification to the other.

MORPH_MORPHOLOGY

The morphology (histology) of the tumour, comprising of the first four digits of the ICDO(3) morphology code and a fifth digit which denotes behaviour. This field will be completed for all registrations with an incidence date from 1.1.2006.

TYPE_ICDO3

Indicates the classification system used for grading tumour.

GRADE_CLASSIFICATION

Grade or cell type indicates the degree of differentiation of malignant tumours or the T-cell and B-cell designation for lymphomas and leukaemia and is sometimes recorded as the sixth digit of the ICDO morphology code, although this is not recorded on Socrates.

GRADE_CELL_TYPE

Most valid base of diagnosis indicates the method judged to have best provided or validated the diagnosis during the course of the illness. Codes have changed over time, current codes correct since 1 January 2023.

MVB_DIAG

Histological verification is microscopic confirmation of the histological or cytological diagnosis (including examination of peripheral blood film).

HIST_VER

Method of first detection indicates how the tumour was first detected.

METHOD_1ST_DETECTION

Clinical stage indicates the extent of spread of the tumour at diagnosis in terms of clinical findings. Stage is associated with invasive tumours only. T-size/ Extent of Primary tumour based on clinical examination ± imaging, e.g. mammography.

STAGE_CLINICAL_T

Condition of regional lymph nodes/glands based on clinical examination ± imaging

STAGE_CLINICAL_N

STAGE_CLINICAL_M

Pathological Stage indicates the extent of the spread of the tumour at diagnosis in terms of the pathological findings. Breast and lung will be collected from incidence 01/01/2005. Renal and prostate will be collected from 01/01/2013. Stage is associated with invasive tumours only. T-size/ Extent of Primary tumour based on clinical examination ± imaging, e.g. mammography.

STAGE_PATHOLOGIC_T

STAGE_PATHOLOGIC_N

STAGE_PATHOLOGIC_M

Clinical Extent of Disease describes the extent of disease spread and waas collected for all malignant invasive lung tumours (C34*) registered with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2012.

CLINICAL_EXTENT_OF_DISEASE

Dukes' stage (colorectal): indicates the extent of spread of the invasive tumour at diagnosis in terms of the pathological and/or clinical findings for Socrates. Extent of Primary tumour for Colorectal cancer - Dukes’ staging is primarily based on histological findings.

STAGE_COLORECTAL

FIGO Stage indicates the extent of spread of the invasive primary tumour for Cervix and ovary at diagnosis in terms of the pathological and/or clinical findings.
From 01/01/1997  FIGO stage will be collected for invasive tumours of the cervix. From 01/01/2005 incidence date FIGO stage will also be collected for invasive tumours of the ovary.

STAGE_FIGO_AFTER_SURGERY

FIGO Stage indicates the extent of spread of the invasive primary tumour for Cervix and ovary at diagnosis in terms of the pathological and/or clinical findings. FIGO stage will be collected for all tumours of the cervix and ovary from an incidence date of 01/01/2005.

STAGE_FIGO_BEFORE_SURGERY

Pathological tumour size is the maximum diameter in mm of the invasive component of the tumour in the fresh or fixed state on the histological preparation.  If the two measurements are discrepant then that obtained from the histological (fixed) section(s) should be recorded. The tumour (not the excised specimen) with the greatest diameter should be used. This is collected for invasive breast tumours only. Range 000-999 or NK - not known.

TUMOUR_SIZE

This indicates whether regional lymph nodes were examined by pathology. Associated with invasive breast cancer only and is collected for all malignant tumours of the breast (ICD10 C50*) with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2012.

NODES_EXAMINED

Indicates how many regional lymph nodes were examined. Recoded for invasive breast only from 01 January 1997 and for invasive head and neck, colorectal, lung, melanoma or breast 1 January 2013.

NO_OF_NODES_EXAMINED

Indicates if any of the regional lymph nodes were positive/involved. This field is collected for invasive breast only from 1 January 1997 and for invasive head and neck, colorectal, lung, melanoma or breast from 1 January 2013.

POSITIVE_NODES

Indicates how many of the regional lymph nodes were positive/involved. Recoded for invasive breast only from 1 January 1997 and for invasive head and neck, colorectal, lung, melanoma or breast from 01/01/2013.

NO_POSITIVE_NODES

Indicates if the patient has been treated with surgery

SURGERY

DATE_1ST_SURGERY

REF_TO_RAD

Indicates if patient has been treated with radiotherapy. Codes as per 'Surgery'

TREATED_WITH_RAD

This records whether radiotherapy treatment has been given to primary tumour site.

RAD_TO_PRIMARY

This records whether radiotherapy treatment has been given to metastases.

RAD_TO_METS

Indicates whether other radiotherapy treatment has been given such as organ ablation or prophylaxis.

RAD_OTHER

This is the date of first radiotherapy treatment, if applicable, and is in the format DD-MMM-YYYY.

DATE_1ST_RAD

Indicates if the patient has had systemic chemotherapy treatment. Codes as per 'Surgery'

CHEMO

Date of first chemotherapy if applicable (dd-mm-yyyy)

DATE_1ST_CHEMO

Indicates if patient has had hormone treatment as a treatment for their cancer. Codes as per 'Surgery'

HORM_THERAPY

Date of first hormone therapy if applicable, in the format DD-MMM-YYYY.

DATE_1ST_HORM

Whether a patient has had another therapy as part of their treatment. Codes as per 'Surgery'

OTHER_THERAPY

Indicates the type of other therapy treatment carried out.

TYPE_OTHER_THERAPY

Date of first other therapy, if applicable, in the format DD-MMM-YYYY.

DATE_1ST_OTHER_THERAPY

This indicates whether a patient is alive or not.

VITAL_STATUS

Date of leaving Scotland (or UK) may be entered by the Cancer Information Officer (CIO) from patient records or obtained through nationwide NHSCR linkages.

EMBARKATION_DATE

Breslow thickness is recorded in mm, with values from 00.01 to 99.98, for all cutaneous melanomas (C43*) with Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2005. It is not required to be completed for non-invasive (in-situ) or non-skin melanomas.

MELANOMA_SKIN_BRESLOW_SIZE

Clark’s Level (also referred to as Anatomic Level) is a measure of the depth of invasion into the skin and is recorded for all skin melanomas with a tumour type of 872# - 879# (including skin of male/female genital organs) (C43*, D03*, C51*, C52X, C60*, C63*), and with an incidence date from 1 January 2005 onwards.

MELANOMA_SKIN_CLARKS_LEVEL

Indicates that a patient has died outwith Scotland. Death will not be notified through the NRS linkage.

DEATH_OUT_OF_SCOTLAND

Microinvasive is used to describe a degree of invasion which is not associated with any risk of nodal metastasis and is sufficiently small to treat by local or conservative means. This field is collected for all registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2005.

MICROINVASIVE

Herceptin receptor status. This field records whether HER2 is being over-expressed (positive) in a tumour or whether normal levels of expression are found (negative). If a breast tumour is HER2 positive this indicates the cancermight successfully be treated with chemotherapy. This field is collected for all registrations of malignant or in situ breast tumours (C50* or D05*) with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2009.

HER2

The progesterone receptor (or PR or PgR) status is recorded for breast cases (ICD10 C50* or D05*) diagnosed histologically. If PR status is positive the cancer should respond well to hormone suppression treatments. This field is collected for all registrations of malignant or in situ breast tumours (C50* or D05*) with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2009.

PROGESTERONE_RECEPTOR_STATUS

The oestrogen receptor (or ER) status is recorded for breast cases (ICD10 C50* or D05*) diagnosed histologically. This field is collected for all registrations of malignant breast tumours (C50*) with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 1997 and additionally for all in situ breast tumours (D05*) with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2009. This is collected for invasive breast tumours only.

ERSTATUS

This field is collected for all prostate registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2011 and shows reflects the grading of the minority of cells examined. If only one pattern is present the major and minor components are given the same grade. Previously this was recorded as a combined Gleason score with the Gleason major component.

GRADE_CELL_TYPE_MINOR

The Gleason score is an observation of how closely cells resemble normal prostate cells (Grade 1) to high-grade tumour cells (Grade 5). This field is collected for all prostate registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2011 and shows the grading of the majority of cells examined. Previously this was recorded as a combined Gleason score with the Gleason minor component. If only one pattern is present the major and minor components are given the same grade.

GLEASON_MAJOR

This field is collected for all prostate registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2011 and shows the grading of the tertiary component of cells examined. This is where there is a small component of a third and generally more aggressive pattern.

GRADE_CELL_TYPE_TERTIARY

Indicates that a haematological transformation has occurred. This is recorded from Scottish incidence 1 January 2013.

TRANSFORMATION_DATE

The International Classification of Diseases (10th revision) code recorded for haematological transformations which have occurred since 1 January 2013.

TRANSFORMATION_ICD10

The International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (3rd revision) code for haematological transformations which have occurred since 1 January 2013.Tumour type indicates the morphology (histology) of the tumour and comprises the first four digits of the ICDO(3) morphology code and a fifth digit which denotes behaviour.

TRANSFORMATION_ICDO3

For look-up purposes only. Indicates if TNM version 8 has been recorded. From 01.01.2017

LUNG_TNM8

Clinical tumour size is the maximum diameter in mm of the invasive component of the tumour, or where multiple tumours exist, the maximum diameter in mm of the largest tumour. This field is collected for all malignant hepatocellular tumours of the liver (ICD10 C220) with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2014.

CLINICAL_TUMOUR_SIZE

AJCC – American Joint Committee on Cancer indicates the extent of disease progression of invasive melanoma tumours. AJCC was collected for malignant melanomas of the skin (ICD10 C43*) with an incident date from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017.

AJCC

This staging group indicates the extent of disease progression of invasive testicular tumours (ICD10 site code C62*) with an incident date from 1 January 2015.

STAGING_GROUP

The PSA (prostate specific antigen) test is a blood test that can help diagnose prostate problems, including prostate cancer. It measures the amount of prostate specific antigen in blood. This field applies to prostate cancer only (C61X) with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2017. The PSA recorded should be that measured on the date of diagnosis and prior to treatment. If there is no PSA at the time of diagnosis and treatment has commenced take the PSA level prior to referral, this may be taken by the GP.

PSA_LEVEL

This denotes the nadir levels of serum tumour markers Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) and Lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) obtained after orchiectomy. This applies to testicular cancers only (C62*) with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2017.

SERUM_MARKER

Variable added to the file during June 2018. Performance status is an overall assessment of the functional/physical performance of the patient. This field applies to all registerable invasive cancers C000 – C97X (excluding non melanoma skin C44) and brain cancers D180, D32*, D33*, D352, D353, D354 with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2017.

PERFORMANCE_STATUS

This is the reason why no treatment has taken place. It applies to all registerable cancers with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2017. This is only to be completed if no treatment has taken place.

NO_TREATMENT_REASON

This records if only palliative surgery was carried out and is collected for all registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 2016.

PALLIATIVE_SURGERY

This records the date of first palliative surgical treatment, if applicable, and is in the format DD-MMM-YYYY.

DATE_1ST_PAL_SURGERY

Indicates the type of other therapy treatment carried out. This field was previously text only and was collected for all registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 1997. This field changed to a dropdown option for registrations from 1 January 2016.

TYPE_OTHER_THERAPY_TYPE

Indicates if patient has had biological/immunotherapy. Biological therapies are treatments that act on processes in cells. They may: stop cancer cells from dividing and growing; seek out cancer cells and kill them; encourage the immune system to attack cancer cells. There are many different types of biological therapies including immunotherapy. This field is collected for all registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 1997.

TYPE_IMMUN_TYPE

Date of first biological/immunotherapy if applicable, in the format DD-MM-YYYY.

DATE_1ST_IMMUN_TYPE

This reflects the type of radiotherapy administered to a patient and is collected from Scottish incident date 1 January 2016.

TYPE_RADIO_TYPE

This indicates whether therapy is intended to be curative or not. This field is collected for all registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 1997.

THERAPY_OBJECTIVES

Hospital of diagnosis denotes the location (institution) code of the hospital in which the diagnosis was first made. This may also be a GP surgery code if an initial biopsy was taken by a GP. This field is collected for all registrations with a Scottish incidence date from 1 January 1997.

HOSP_GP_DIAG

Institution code/practice code of Hospital/GP practice where a surgical treatment was first carried out (if applicable)

HOSP_GP_1ST_SURGERY

Institution code of Hospital where radiotherapy was first carried out (if applicable)

HOSP_1ST_RAD

Institution code/practice code of Hospital/GP practice of first Chemotherapy (if applicable)

HOSP_GP_1ST_CHEMO

Institution code/practice code of Hospital/GP practice initiating Hormone Therapy (if applicable)

HOSP_GP_1ST_HORMONE_THERAPY

Institution code/practice code of Hospital/GP surgery where Other Therapy was first carried out (if applicable)

HOSP_GP_1ST_OTHER_THERAPY

Institution code/practice code of Hospital/GP practice where a palliative surgical treatment was first carried out (if applicable)

HOSP_GP_1ST_PAL_SURGERY

Patient's NHS Scotland Health Board of Residence according to HB configuration as at current date.

HBRES_CURRENT

NHS Scotland Health Board where diagnosis took place according to configuration as at current date.

HBDIAG_CURRENT

NHS Scotland Health Board where surgical treatment took place according to configuration as at current date.

HBSURG_CURRENT

NHS Scotland Health Board where Radiotherapy took place according to configuration as at current date.

HBRAD_CURRENT

NHS Scotland Health Board where Chemotherapy took place according to configuration as at current date.

HBCHEMO_CURRENT

Information on Scottish residents when they are diagnosed with malignant (and some benign) tumours.
For more information on each variable, see https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/39133/2026-06-cancer-registry-data-definitions-v1.pdf

Scottish Cancer Registry - Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR06) - Research Data Access Pathway subset

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