Table 2. Comparison of physician specialists seen by unresected, stage III NSCLC patients prior to initiating treatment with systemic therapy, radiotherapy, and concurrent chemoradiotherapy.
| All patients (N = 3,799) |
Systemic therapy only (N = 823) |
Radiotherapy only (N = 1,000) |
Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (N = 1,976) |
P-value3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any type of specialist seen | |||||
| Medical oncologist | 2,967 (78.1%) | 724 (88.0%) | 703 (70.3%) | 1,540 (77.9%) | <0.001* |
| Radiation oncologist | 1,625 (42.8%) | 123 (14.9%) | 564 (56.4%) | 938 (47.5%) | <0.001* |
| Surgical specialist | 1,816 (47.8%) | 422 (51.3%) | 398 (39.8%) | 996 (50.4%) | <0.001* |
| None of the above | 307 (8.1%) | 51 (6.2%) | 98 (9.8%) | 158 (8.0%) | 0.019* |
| Only one type of specialist seen1 | |||||
| Medical oncologist | 869 (22.9%) | 302 (36.7%) | 179 (17.9%) | 388 (19.6%) | <0.001* |
| Surgical specialist | 200 (5.3%) | 36 (4.4%) | 51 (5.1%) | 113 (5.7%) | 0.336 |
| Two types of specialists seen2 | |||||
| Medical oncologist and radiation oncologist | 624 (16.4%) | 42 (5.1%) | 236 (23.6%) | 346 (17.5%) | <0.001* |
| Medical oncologist and surgical specialist | 798 (21.0%) | 311 (37.8%) | 108 (10.8%) | 379 (19.2%) | <0.001* |
| All three types of specialists seen | |||||
| Medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, and surgical specialist | 676 (17.8%) | 69 (8.4%) | 180 (18.0%) | 427 (21.6%) | <0.001* |
| Number of specialists seen, mean SD [median] | 1.7 ± 0.9 [2.0] | 1.5 ± 0.7 [2.0] | 1.7 ± 0.9 [2.0] | 1.8 ± 0.9 [2.0] | <0.001* |
* Significant at the 5% level
Abbreviations:
NSCLC: non-small cell lung cancer; SD: standard deviation
[1] <5% of patients saw only a radiation oncologist prior to initiating treatment with systemic therapy, radiotherapy, and concurrent chemoradiotherapy.
[2] <5% of patients saw only a radiation oncologist prior and surgical specialist prior to initiating treatment with systemic therapy, radiotherapy, and concurrent chemoradiotherapy.