Table 1.
Characteristics of Medicare Beneficiaries Attending an NCI Cancer Center, and Others, With an Incident Diagnosis of Lung, Breast, Colorectal, or Prostate Cancer From 1998 to 2002 (N = 211,084) as Recorded in SEER
| NCI Cancer Center Attendancea |
||
|---|---|---|
| Yes, n (%) | No, n (%) | |
| Total | 15,377 (7.3) | 195,671 (92.7) |
| Mortality | ||
| None | 11,462 (74.5) | 139,405 (71.2) |
| 1 Year from diagnosis | ||
| All-cause | 2,347 (15.3) | 38,153 (19.5) |
| Cancer-specific | 1,906 (12.4) | 29,806 (15.2) |
| Other-cause | 441 (2.9) | 8,347 (4.3) |
| 3 years from diagnosis | ||
| All-cause | 3,915 (25.5) | 56,266 (28.8) |
| Cancer-specific | 3,051 (19.8) | 41,189 (21.1) |
| Other-cause | 864 (5.7) | 15,077 (7.7) |
| Cancer type | ||
| Breast | 3,554 (23.1) | 46,439 (23.7) |
| Lung | 3,749 (24.4) | 45,380 (23.2) |
| Colorectal | 2,864 (18.6) | 46,669 (23.8) |
| Prostate | 5,210 (33.9) | 57,183 (29.2) |
| Cancer-directed surgeryb | 9,161 (59.6) | 112,284 (57.4) |
| Female | 6,791 (44.2) | 93,370 (47.7) |
| Race/ethnicity | ||
| Caucasian | 12,690 (82.5) | 170,607 (87.2) |
| African American | 1,993 (13.0) | 16,015 (8.2) |
| Asian | 303 (2.0) | 3,558 (1.8) |
| Hispanic | 167 (1.1) | 2,959 (1.5) |
| Native American | 111 (<0.1) | 320 (0.2) |
| Other | 213 (1.4) | 2,212 (1.1) |
| Predominance of primary carec | 6,514 (42.4) | 93,762 (47.9) |
| Rurality | ||
| Urban core | 12,080 (78.6) | 138,721 (70.9) |
| Suburban areas | 883 (5.7) | 15,878 (8.1) |
| Large town areas | 889 (5.8) | 16,032 (8.2) |
| Small town and rural areas | 1,525 (9.9) | 25,040 (12.8) |
| Charlson comorbidity index | ||
| 0 | 9,966 (64.8) | 118,077 (60.3) |
| 1-2 | 3,736 (24.3) | 50,340 (25.7) |
| 3-4 | 1,263 (8.2) | 19,499 (10.0) |
| 5+ | 412 (2.7) | 7,755 (4.0) |
| Stage | ||
| 1 | 3,383 (22.0) | 46,731 (23.9) |
| 2 | 2,023 (13.2) | 30,864 (15.8) |
| 3 | 2,180 (14.2) | 26,713 (13.6) |
| 4 | 2,350 (15.3) | 26,260 (13.4) |
| Unknown | 5,441 (35.4) | 65,103 (33.3) |
|
| ||
| Median (Interquartile Range) | ||
| Age at diagnosis | 73 (69-77) | 75 (70-80) |
| Travel time to nearest NCI cancer center (minutes) | 24 (13-52) | 51 (23-138) |
| Median income of ZIP ($1,000) | 46.5 (35.3-61.4) | 45.3 (34.7-59.3) |
| Physician supply | ||
| Primary care per 1,000 | 1.3 (1.0-1.9) | 1.2 (0.9-1.6) |
| Oncologists per 100,000 | 3.5 (2.4-4.0) | 2.6 (2.0-3.8) |
Note: NCI = National Cancer Institute; SEER = Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results.
NCI cancer center attendance was defined as having two or more claim days in the first 12 months following diagnosis.
Cancer-directed surgery was defined as surgical resection of the lung, bronchus, colon, rectum, breast, or prostate as identified in MedPAR and outpatient Medicare claims through International Classification of Diseases-9 and Current Procedural Terminology codes.
Predominance of primary care was defined as having primary care visits ≥ specialist visits in the 6 months prior to diagnosis.