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Factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in NSW, Australia

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Large non-age-specific radiotherapy utilisation rate (RTU) studies have demonstrated that actual RTU is below the optimal recommended utilisation rate for both curative and palliative intent radiotherapy indications. The optimal utilisation rate for the geriatric oncology coh...

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Autores principales: Mackenzie, Penny, Vajdic, Claire, Delaney, Geoff, Gabriel, Gabriel, Agar, Meera, Comans, Tracy, Barton, Michael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7769853/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33385070
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tipsro.2020.09.003
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author Mackenzie, Penny
Vajdic, Claire
Delaney, Geoff
Gabriel, Gabriel
Agar, Meera
Comans, Tracy
Barton, Michael
author_facet Mackenzie, Penny
Vajdic, Claire
Delaney, Geoff
Gabriel, Gabriel
Agar, Meera
Comans, Tracy
Barton, Michael
author_sort Mackenzie, Penny
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Large non-age-specific radiotherapy utilisation rate (RTU) studies have demonstrated that actual RTU is below the optimal recommended utilisation rate for both curative and palliative intent radiotherapy indications. The optimal utilisation rate for the geriatric oncology cohort of patients has not yet been determined. The purpose of this research was to examine the actual RTU for patients treated in New South Wales (NSW), Australia as a function of increasing age, and the relationship between RTU and tumour site, travelling distance and socio-economic status. MATERIALS & METHODS: NSW Central Cancer Registry data (2009–2011) were linked to the NSW Radiotherapy Dataset (2009–2012). RTU was calculated for patients aged <80 years and ≥80 years. RTU was defined as the proportion of patients receiving at least a single course of radiotherapy within 12 months of a cancer diagnosis. RESULTS: 110,645 patients were diagnosed with cancer, of whom 27,721 received at least one course of radiotherapy. The overall RTU was 25%. RTU for patients aged <80 years was 28% compared to 14% for patients aged 80+ years (p < 0.001). On both univariate and multivariate analysis, increasing age, residential address in disadvantaged socioeconomic areas and increasing distance to the nearest radiotherapy department were associated with a reduction in RTU. CONCLUSION: Geriatric oncology patients are less likely to receive radiotherapy than their younger counterparts. Some of the reduction in RTU may be justifiable on the basis of limited life expectancy and co-morbidity. Further research is required to determine the co-morbidity adjusted optimal RTU in older patients.
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spelling pubmed-77698532020-12-30 Factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in NSW, Australia Mackenzie, Penny Vajdic, Claire Delaney, Geoff Gabriel, Gabriel Agar, Meera Comans, Tracy Barton, Michael Tech Innov Patient Support Radiat Oncol Research Article BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Large non-age-specific radiotherapy utilisation rate (RTU) studies have demonstrated that actual RTU is below the optimal recommended utilisation rate for both curative and palliative intent radiotherapy indications. The optimal utilisation rate for the geriatric oncology cohort of patients has not yet been determined. The purpose of this research was to examine the actual RTU for patients treated in New South Wales (NSW), Australia as a function of increasing age, and the relationship between RTU and tumour site, travelling distance and socio-economic status. MATERIALS & METHODS: NSW Central Cancer Registry data (2009–2011) were linked to the NSW Radiotherapy Dataset (2009–2012). RTU was calculated for patients aged <80 years and ≥80 years. RTU was defined as the proportion of patients receiving at least a single course of radiotherapy within 12 months of a cancer diagnosis. RESULTS: 110,645 patients were diagnosed with cancer, of whom 27,721 received at least one course of radiotherapy. The overall RTU was 25%. RTU for patients aged <80 years was 28% compared to 14% for patients aged 80+ years (p < 0.001). On both univariate and multivariate analysis, increasing age, residential address in disadvantaged socioeconomic areas and increasing distance to the nearest radiotherapy department were associated with a reduction in RTU. CONCLUSION: Geriatric oncology patients are less likely to receive radiotherapy than their younger counterparts. Some of the reduction in RTU may be justifiable on the basis of limited life expectancy and co-morbidity. Further research is required to determine the co-morbidity adjusted optimal RTU in older patients. Elsevier 2020-10-13 /pmc/articles/PMC7769853/ /pubmed/33385070 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tipsro.2020.09.003 Text en © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Research Article
Mackenzie, Penny
Vajdic, Claire
Delaney, Geoff
Gabriel, Gabriel
Agar, Meera
Comans, Tracy
Barton, Michael
Factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in NSW, Australia
title Factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in NSW, Australia
title_full Factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in NSW, Australia
title_fullStr Factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in NSW, Australia
title_full_unstemmed Factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in NSW, Australia
title_short Factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in NSW, Australia
title_sort factors affecting radiotherapy utilisation in geriatric oncology patients in nsw, australia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7769853/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33385070
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tipsro.2020.09.003
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