Table 1.
Demographic and Health Characteristics of Study Sample by Whether the Patient Had a Different Diagnosing and Treating Urologist, SEER-Medicare 1995 to 2005
| Individual Characteristics | Unadjusted |
Propensity Score Weighted* |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Change | Urologist Change | p-value | No Change | Urologist Change | p-value | |
| N (%) | 15,369 (100) | 8,892 (100) | 8,685 (100) | 8,862 (100) | ||
| Race | ||||||
| White | 14,071 (91.6) | 8,178 (94.1) | <.001 | 8,185 (94.2) | 8,178 (94.1) | .741 |
| Black | 1,298 (8.4) | 514 (5.9) | 500 (5.8) | 514 (5.9) | ||
| Age | ||||||
| 65–74 | 13,387 (87.1) | 7,881 (90.7) | <.001 | 7,884 (90.8) | 7,881 (90.7) | .766 |
| ≥75 | 1,982 (12.9) | 811 (9.3) | 801 (9.2) | 811 (9.3) | ||
| Comorbidities | ||||||
| 0 | 5,425 (35.3) | 3,297 (37.9) | <.001 | 3,296 (37.9) | 3,297 (37.9) | .323 |
| 1 | 5,120 (33.3) | 2,938 (33.8) | 2,934 (33.8) | 2,938 (33.8) | ||
| ≥2 | 4,824 (31.4) | 2,457 (28.3) | 2,455 (28.3) | 2,457 (28.3) | ||
| Marital status | ||||||
| Married | 12,410 (80.8) | 7,039 (81.0) | <.001 | 7,028 (80.9) | 7,039 (81.0) | .829 |
| Not married | 2,407 (15.7) | 1,277 (14.7) | 1,292 (14.9) | 1,277 (14.7) | ||
| Unknown | 552 (3.6) | 376 (4.3) | 365 (4.2) | 376 (4.3) | ||
| Median income | ||||||
| Lowest | 3,981 (25.9) | 1,941 (22.3) | <.001 | 1,900 (21.9) | 1,941 (22.3) | .884 |
| Middle low | 4,023 (26.2) | 2,102 (24.2) | 2,120 (24.2) | 2,102 (24.2) | ||
| Middle high | 3,899 (25.4) | 2,184 (25.1) | 2,160 (24.9) | 2,184 (25.1) | ||
| Highest | 3,466 (22.6) | 2,465 (28.4) | 2,505 (28.8) | 2,465 (28.4) | ||
| Grade differentiation | ||||||
| Well | 494 (3.2) | 202 (2.3) | <.001 | 200 (2.3) | 202 (2.3) | .903 |
| Moderately | 10,187 (66.3) | 5,563 (64.0) | 5,630 (64.8) | 5,563 (64.0) | ||
| Poorly | 4,550 (29.6) | 2,864 (32.9) | 2,788 (32.1) | 2,864 (32.9) | ||
| Unknown | 138 (0.9) | 63 (0.7) | 67 (0.8) | 63 (0.7) | ||
| Tumor stage | ||||||
| 1 | 4,832 (31.4) | 2,643 (30.4) | <.001 | 2,583 (29.7) | 2,643 (30.4) | .485 |
| 2 | 9847 (64.1) | 5,546 (63.8) | 5,652 (65.1) | 5,546 (63.8) | ||
| 3 | 690 (4.5) | 503 (5.8) | 450 (5.2) | 503 (5.8) | ||
| Type of procedure | ||||||
| Open prostatectomy | 14,978 (97.5) | 7,682 (88.4) | <.001 | 7,919 (91.2) | 7,682 (88.4) | .152 |
| Minimally invasive prostatectomy | 391 (2.5) | 1,010 (11.6) | 766 (8.8) | 1,010 (11.6) | ||
Note. The propensity score model included patient age, race, comorbidities, marital status, tumor grade and stage, type of procedure, area income, diagnosing physician board certification, experience, and surgical volume, treating physician experience with laparoscopic or robotic procedures, SEER-site, and diagnosis year.
*
Bivariate statistics calculated using R survey program (Lumley 2011), where propensity score weight is such that the treated individual receives a weight of 1 while control individuals are weighted by e/(1 − e), where e is the propensity score.