Skip to main content
. 2022 Feb 15;12(2):622–650.

Table 4.

Summary of the evidence for examined significant predictors, on multivariable analysis, of surgery utilisation and associated costs

Predictor variables Surgery

Curative-intent surgery (25 studies, with 31 analyses$) [19,20,23,24,26,29,35,37,43,44,48-62] Non-curative intent surgery (2 studies) [41,63] Pre-operative biliary drainage (1 study) [87] Hospitalisation costs following surgery (2 studies) [64,65]




No. of analyses* Direction No. of studies* Direction No. of studies* Direction No. of studies* Direction
Patient demographic characteristics
    Age 25/26 ↓Older (ref: younger) 0/1 n/a 0/1 n/a 0/2 n/a
    Sex 5/24 Variable 0/1 n/a 0/1 n/a 1/2 ↓F (ref: M)
4/5 ↑F (ref: M)
1/5 ↓F (ref: M)
    Race/ethnicity 17/21 ↓minority race (ref: Caucasian) 0/1 n/a 0/1 n/a 1/2 ↑Non-Hispanic/other (ref: Caucasian)
    Preferred language 0/1 n/a
    Education 6/9 Variable 0/1 n/a
5/6↓ lower education (ref: higher education)
1/6↑ lower education (ref: higher education)
    Income 9/13 ↓lower income (ref: higher income) 0/1 n/a
    Insurance 10/12 Variable& 0/1 n/a
    SES 3/4 ↓low SES (ref: high SES) 0/1 n/a 0/1 n/a
    Location of residence 2/9 1/2: ↓Unknown (ref: metro) 0/1 n/a
1/2: ↑Unknown (ref: metro)
    Marital status 5/5 ↑Married (ref: unmarried) 0/1 n/a 0/1 n/a
Disease characteristics
    TNM/ACJJ stage 11/12 Variable 0/1 n/a 0/1 n/a
1/11: ↑stage II (ref: stage I)
2/11: ↓stage II (ref: stage I)
8/11: ↓stage III-IV (ref: stage I-II)
    Tumour site 16/18 Variable& 2/2 Variable
↓body/tail (ref: head)
↓other (ref: head)
    Tumour size 4/5 ↓increasing tumour size (ref: lowest tumour size) 1/1 ↓per 10 mm increase (ref: lowest tumour size)
    Grade/differentiation 4/4 Variable 1/1 ↓unknown (ref: low) 0/1 n/a 0/1 n/a
↓high or unknown (ref: low)
↑Poor/ungraded (ref: well/moderately diff.)
    Nodal status 1/1 ↓Clinical N0 or Unknown (ref: pathologic N0) 0/1 n/a
    Metastasis 1/1 ↓metastatic (ref: non-metastatic)
    T stage 3/3 ↑lower T stage (ref: higher T stage) 0/1 n/a
    N stage 1/1 ↑N1, ↓Nx (ref: N0) 0/1 n/a
    CCI/Charlson-Deyo Score 7/10 Variable 1/2 ↑increasing CCI (ref: CCI: 0) 1/1 ↑CCI≥3
5/7: ↓increasing CCI (ref: CCI: 0)
2/7: ↑increasing CCI or CCI of 1 (ref: CCI: 0)
    Elixhauser comorbidity index 1/1 ↑increasing score (ref: lowest score)
    Performance status 1/1 ↓Not fully active (ref: fully active)
Treatment characteristics
    Year of diagnosis/treatment 10/16 8/10: ↑per year increase (ref: lowest year) 0/1 n/a 1/1 ↑per year increase (ref: lowest year)
2/10: ↓per year increase (ref: lowest year)
    MDT presentation 1/1 ↓Presented at MDT (ref: not presented)
    Pancreas protocol CT 0/1 n/a
    CT 0/1 n/a
    EUS 1/1 ↑Yes (ref: no)
    Laparoscopy 0/1 n/a
    MRI/Cholangiopancreatography 0/1 n/a
    Gastroenterologist 1/1 ↓Yes (ref: no) 1/1 ↑Yes (ref: no)
    Chemotherapy 1/1 ↑Yes, ↓refused (ref: no) 1/1 ↑neoadjuvant chemotherapy (ref: no neoadjuvant chemotherapy) 1/1 ↓Adjuvant chemotherapy (Ref: none)
    Surgery type 2/2 ↓Distal pancreatectomy (ref: pancreaticoduodenectomy)
    Length of Stay 1/1 ↑Yes (ref: no)
    Post-operative complications 2/2 ↑Yes (ref: no)
    Readmission following operation 1/1 ↑Yes (ref: no)
Health service characteristics
    Hospital type 4/5 Variable 0/1 n/a 1/2 ↑Teaching hospital (ref: non-teaching hospital)
3/4 ↓Community or comprehensive (ref: academic)
1/4 ↑Comprehensive/academic/integrated network (ref: community)
    Hospital volume (i.e. no. of procedures per year) 1/2 ↑≥ pancreatectomies per year (ref: <5 pancreatectomies per year) 1/1 ↑decreasing volume (ref: very high volume) 1/2 ↓intermediate (ref: low)
*

Number of analyses/studies = Studies with significant findings in relation to the predictor variable (numerator)/total number of studies evaluating the predictor variable (denominator).

$

1 study (Huang et al. 2019) conducted 7 separate analyses of data from different populations. These have been counted separately.

&

Variable groupings/reference categories have been used by different studies to categorise, therefore it is not possible to comment on overall direction.

Abbreviations: AJCC, American Joint Committee on Cancer; CCI, Charlson Comorbidity Index; CT, computed tomography; EUS, endoscopic ultrasound; MDT, Multidisciplinary team meeting; SES, Socioeconomic status; TNM, Tumour, Node, Metastasis staging system.