A population perspective on the use of external beam radiotherapy in Catalonia, Spain.
Clin Transl Oncol
; 22(12): 2222-2229, 2020 Dec.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32424700
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To assess the use of external beam radiotherapy in Catalonia (Spain), overall and by health management area.METHODS:
We assessed radiotherapy treatments in a cohort of patients diagnosed with cancer from 2009 to 2011, using the population-based cancer registries in Girona and Tarragona. Participants had to have a minimum follow-up of 5 years from the time the cancer registry database was linked to the catalan health service database for financing radiation oncology. Outcomes included the proportion of patients receiving radiotherapy within 1 and 5 years of diagnosis. A log-binomial model was used to assess age-related trends in the use of radiotherapy by tumour site. Finally, we calculated the standardized utilization rate and 95% confidence intervals by health management area covered by the radiation oncology services, using indirect methods.RESULTS:
At 1 and 5 years from diagnosis, 21.4 and 24.4% of patients, respectively, had received external beam radiotherapy. Patients aged 40-64 years had the most indications for the treatment, and there was a negative correlation between the patients' age and the use of radiotherapy for most tumour sites (exceptions were cervical, thyroid, and uterine cancers). There were no statistically significant differences in the use of radiotherapy according to th health management area.CONCLUSIONS:
Population-based data show that external beam radiotherapy is underutilized in Catalonia. This situation requires a careful analysis to understand the causes, as well as an improvement of the available resources, oriented toward achieving realistic targets for the optimal use of external beam radiotherapy in our country.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Neoplasms
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Clin Transl Oncol
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Spain