Table 2.
Characteristics of physicians and hospitals providing care for older stage II and III colorectal cancer patients
| Characteristic | Physicians/ hospitals included in analysis |
Patients receiving chemotherapy treatment |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| without oxaliplatin* |
with oxaliplatin | |||||
| n | col% | n=2,145 | row % | n=2,243 | row % | |
| Physician characteristics (n=1,517) | ||||||
| Degree | ||||||
| MD | 1,464 | 97 | 2,049 | 49 | 2,174 | 51 |
| DO | 53 | 3 | 96 | 58 | 69 | 42 |
| US-Trained | ||||||
| Yes | 1,012 | 67 | 1,351 | 47 | 1,524 | 53 |
| No | 505 | 33 | 794 | 52 | 719 | 48 |
| Medical School Graduation | ||||||
| <1981 | 666 | 44 | 1,025 | 51 | 1,001 | 49 |
| ≥1981 | 851 | 56 | 1,120 | 47 | 1,242 | 53 |
| Primary specialty | ||||||
| Oncology | 681 | 45 | 1,023 | 48 | 1,095 | 52 |
| Hematology/Oncology | 477 | 31 | 660 | 50 | 673 | 50 |
| Hematology | 160 | 11 | 223 | 48 | 237 | 52 |
| Internal Medicine | 133 | 9 | 188 | 50 | 189 | 50 |
| Other specialty | 66 | 4 | 51 | 51 | 49 | 49 |
| Gender | ||||||
| Male | 1,235 | 81 | 1,832 | 49 | 1,925 | 51 |
| Female | 282 | 19 | 313 | 50 | 318 | 50 |
| Hospital characteristics (n=773 unique) † | ||||||
| NCI center designation | ||||||
| None | 802 | 97 | 2,091 | 49 | 2,158 | 51 |
| Clinical | 4 | 0 | 7 | 39 | 11 | 61 |
| Comprehensive | 20 | 2 | 47 | 39 | 74 | 61 |
| NCI cooperative group membership count | ||||||
| None | 426 | 52 | 730 | 51 | 709 | 49 |
| 1+ | 400 | 48 | 1,415 | 48 | 1,534 | 52 |
| Teaching hospital | ||||||
| Yes | 319 | 39 | 1,153 | 50 | 1,142 | 50 |
| No | 502 | 61 | 988 | 47 | 1,098 | 53 |
| Unknown | 5 | 1 | 4 | 57 | 3 | 43 |
| Type of hospital | ||||||
| Non-profit | 512 | 62 | 1,693 | 50 | 1,706 | 50 |
| Private | 154 | 19 | 225 | 46 | 259 | 54 |
| Government | 155 | 19 | 223 | 45 | 275 | 55 |
| Unknown | 5 | 1 | 4 | 57 | 3 | 43 |
| Total bed size | ||||||
| < 204 beds | 381 | 46 | 550 | 50 | 554 | 50 |
| 204 – 343 beds | 197 | 24 | 531 | 49 | 563 | 51 |
| 344 – 487 beds | 134 | 16 | 521 | 48 | 575 | 52 |
| 488+ beds | 113 | 14 | 543 | 50 | 550 | 50 |
NCI=National Cancer Institute
94% of the individuals who received treatment without oxaliplatin (n=2,473) received 5-FU or capecitabine alone. All remaining individuals (n=163) received another combination of chemotherapy agents.
All hospital information was obtained from the year of patient diagnosis with exception of the NCI cancer center designation and cooperative group count which are reported for the year 2002. The total number of hospitals reported here (n=874) is greater than the total number of unique hospitals because some of the hospital characteristics changed over time and are reported here according to year of the patient's cancer diagnosis.