Lamont, ElizabethHerndon, James E.Weeks, Jane C.Henderson, I. CraigEarle, Craig C.Schilsky, Richard L.Christakis, Nicholas A.2014-10-012006Lamont, Elizabeth B., James E. Herndon, Jane C. Weeks, I. Craig Henderson, Craig C. Earle, Richard L. Schilsky, and Nicholas A. Christakis. 2006. “Measuring Disease-Free Survival and Cancer Relapse Using Medicare Claims From CALGB Breast Cancer Trial Participants (Companion to 9344).” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 98 (18): 1335-1338. doi:10.1093/jnci/djj363. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djj363.0027-8874http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12987311To determine the accuracy with which Medicare claims data measure disease-free survival in elderly Medicare beneficiaries with cancer, we performed a criterion validation study. We merged gold-standard clinical trial data of 45 elderly patients with node-positive breast cancer who were treated on the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CAL-GB) adjuvant breast trial 9344 with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data files and compared the results of a CMS-based algorithm with the CALGB disease-free survival information to determine sensitivity and specificity. For 5-year disease-free survival, the sensitivity of the CMS-based algorithm was 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 81% to 100%), the specificity was 97% (95% CI = 83% to 100%), and the area under the receiver operator curve was 97% (95% CI = 90% to 100%). For 2-year disease-free survival, the test characteristics were less favorable: sensitivity was 83% (95% CI = 36% to 100%), specificity was 95% (95% CI = 83% to 100%), and area under the receiver operator curve was 84% (95% CI = 66% to 100%).en-USJournal Article2014-10-0110.1093/jnci/djj363