Development and cost estimates of an integrated noncommunicable disease registry in North India: A study protocol

Background: Out of the total deaths globally, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) account for 72%. In India, as per the Global Burden of Disease Estimates 2016, NCDs contributed to 62% of the deaths and 55% of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), thereby posing a huge burden. In low- and middle-income countries, NCD burden estimates are either not available or that are available are insufficient. Hence, the tools to be used in developing countries similar to that in India are disease registries which work as a powerful method to record the data for NCDs. Methods: The integrated registry will be developed in Chandigarh (UT), North India. The situational analysis of operationalization of the existing individual NCD registries of Chandigarh will be done with baseline assessment for core and advanced activities. From a review of the existing tools of varied registries, the integrated tool will be developed and validated. The integrated registry will also be developed as m-registry, i.e., the questionnaire in the form of mobile-based application will be linked to a web-based server so as to make the real-time data entry. Economic evaluation of the isolated NCD registries will be done so as to find the cost of per case registered, on the basis of which the cost of operationalizing an integrated NCD registry will be developed. Discussion: The integrated registry would mean integration in terms of uniform reporting system for different NCDs such as cancer, diabetes at a younger age, acute cardiac events, and stroke, with a separate portion for each disease and pooling of human resources which will ultimately help in developing integrated evidence-based public health interventions for prevention and control. The Barbados' multi-NCD registry has developed a disease surveillance model to record NCD with the phased introduction of one registry component per year with the pooling of human resource and data at one place. A similar model of integrated registry has been developed in the Philippines.