TABLE III.
Variation in the proportion of patients with metastatic gastric cancer utilizing specific health care resources and average use across geographic regions in Ontario
| Resource | Variation by LHIN (%) | p Valuea | Variation by LHIN (mean n/patient) | p Valuea | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest use | Highest use | Lowest use | Highest use | |||
| Investigations | ||||||
| Upper endoscopyb | 95 | 100 | — | 3 | 4 | 0.0002 |
| Computed tomographyb | 98 | 100 | — | 6 | 10 | 0.0052 |
| Radiography | 85 | 99 | 0.0205 | 7 | 12 | 0.0151 |
| Ultrasonography | 60 | 84 | 0.0022 | 3 | 6 | 0.0060 |
| MRIc | 5 | 27 | 0.2357 | — | — | — |
| PETc | 19 | 35 | 0.1090 | — | — | — |
| Health care visits | ||||||
| General practitioner visitsb | 94 | 100 | — | 13 | 16 | 0.1494 |
| Specialist visitsb | 99 | 100 | — | 44 | 84 | 0.0025 |
| Emergency room visits | 78 | 96 | 0.0233 | 2 | 6 | 0.0039 |
| Homecare visits | 66 | 85 | 0.2124 | 49 | 80 | 0.5528 |
| Hospitalizations | ||||||
| Hospital visits | 91 | 100 | 0.8560 | 2 | 3 | 0.0024 |
| Inpatient days | — | — | — | 24 | 40 | 0.0040 |
| Blood transfusions | 50 | 69 | 0.0266 | 2 | 6 | <0.0001 |
| Nonsurgical management | ||||||
| Stent placementc | 2 | 12 | 0.0017 | — | — | — |
| Chemotherapyc | 24 | 51 | 0.2349 | — | — | — |
| Radiotherapyc | 18 | 41 | 0.0001 | — | — | — |
| Gastrectomyc | 32 | 53 | 0.4726 | — | — | — |
a
Significant values shown in boldface type.
b
Only 1 procedure per patient was recorded.
c
Numbers too small for statistical comparison.
LHIN = local health integration network; MRI = magnetic resonance imaging; PET = positron-emission tomography.