Table 5.
Summary of the evidence for examined significant predictors, on multivariable analysis, of consulting a specialist
| Predictor variables | Specialist consultations | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||
| Medical oncology (2 studies) [39,49] | Surgical (1 study) [54] | |||
|
|
|
|||
| No. of studies* | Direction | No. of studies* | Direction | |
| Patient demographic characteristics | ||||
| Age | 2/2 | ↓Older (ref: younger) | 1/1 | ↓Older (ref: younger) |
| Sex | 1/2 | ↓F (ref: M) | 1/3 | |
| Race/ethnicity | 0/1 | n/a | 1/1 | ↓African American (ref: Caucasian) |
| Preferred language | 0/1 | n/a | ||
| Education | 0/1 | n/a | ||
| Income | 1/1 | ↓USD$42-700-68,300 (ref: >$76,000) | ||
| Insurance | 1/1 | ↑Medicare (ref: non-Medicare) | ||
| SES | 1/1 | ↓low SES (ref: high SES) | ||
| Location of residence | 1/1 | ↓regional (ref: major city) | ||
| Disease characteristics | ||||
| TNM/ACJJ stage | 1/1 | ↑Stage IV (ref: Stages I, II and III) | ||
| Tumour site | 0/1 | n/a | 1/1 | ↓Not specified (ref: head) |
| CCI/Charlson-Deyo Score | 2/2 | ↓increasing CCI (ref: CCI: 0) | 1/1 | ↓CCI≥1 (ref: 0) |
| Performance status | 1/1 | ↓in bed >50%/bedbound (ref: fully active) | ||
| Treatment characteristics | ||||
| MDT presentation | 1/1 | ↑Presented at MDT (ref: not presented) | ||
| CT | 1/1 | ↑Yes (ref: no) | ||
| Primary care | 1/1 | ↑Yes (ref: no) | ||
| Gastroenterologist | 1/1 | ↓Yes (ref: no) | ||
| Medical oncology visit | 1/1 | ↑Yes (ref: no) | ||
| Health service characteristics | ||||
| Hospital volume (i.e. no. of procedures per year) | 0/1 | n/a | ||
*
Number of studies = Studies with significant findings in relation to the predictor variable (numerator)/total number of studies evaluating the predictor variable (denominator).
Abbreviations: AJCC, American Joint Committee on Cancer; CCI, Charlson Comorbidity Index; CT, Computed tomography; MDT, Multidisciplinary team meeting; Ref, Reference; SES, Socioeconomic status; TNM, Tumour, Node, Metastasis staging system.