Table 2.
Demographic and preoperative characteristics, Laparoscopic/Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (LAP/VATS) vs. Robotic (RAS): Before inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW)
| Characteristic | Lobectomy | Colon resection | Rectal resection | Radical nephrectomy | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VATS, N = 13,260 | RAS, N = 8013 | Std Diff | LAP, N = 25,864 | RAS, N = 8589 | Std Diff | LAP, N = 3256 | RAS, N = 3678 | Std Diff | LAP, N = 8857 | RAS, N = 7702 | Std Diff | |
| Age groups, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| 18–44 years | 119 (0.9) | 70 (0.9) | 0.003 | 1034 (4.0) | 382 (4.4) | 0.022 | 226 (6.9) | 270 (7.3) | 0.016 | 607 (6.9) | 495 (6.4) | 0.017 |
| 45–54 years | 815 (6.1) | 472 (5.9) | 0.011 | 3378 (13.1) | 1255 (14.6) | 0.045 | 675 (20.7) | 812 (22.1) | 0.033 | 1352 (15.3) | 1213 (15.7) | 0.013 |
| 55–64 years | 3423 (25.8) | 1960 (24.5) | 0.031 | 5673 (21.9) | 1884 (21.9) | 0.000 | 945 (29.0) | 1086 (29.5) | 0.011 | 2402 (27.1) | 2023 (26.3) | 0.019 |
| 65 + | 8903 (67.1) | 5511 (68.8) | 0.035 | 15,779 (61.0) | 5068 (59.0) | 0.041 | 1410 (43.3) | 1510 (41.1) | 0.046 | 4496 (50.8) | 3971 (51.6) | 0.016 |
| Gender, Male, n (%) | 5839 (44.0) | 3550 (44.3) | 0.005 | 12,622 (48.8) | 4402 (51.3) | 0.049 | 2000 (61.4) | 2256 (61.3) | 0.002 | 5422 (61.2) | 4933 (64.0) | 0.059 |
| Race/ethnicity, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| White | 11,265 (85.0) | 6420 (80.1) | 0.128 | 20,249 (78.3) | 6712 (78.1) | 0.004 | 2576 (79.1) | 2972 (80.8) | 0.042 | 6758 (76.3) | 5873 (76.3) | 0.001 |
| African American | 999 (7.5) | 618 (7.7) | 0.007 | 2646 (10.2) | 837 (9.7) | 0.016 | 238 (7.3) | 266 (7.2) | 0.003 | 906 (10.2) | 681 (8.8) | 0.047 |
| Hispanic | 393 (3.0) | 520 (6.5) | 0.167 | 1333 (5.2) | 504 (5.9) | 0.031 | 219 (6.7) | 183 (5.0) | 0.075 | 628 (7.1) | 510 (6.6) | 0.019 |
| Other | 603 (4.5) | 455 (5.7) | 0.051 | 1636 (6.3) | 536 (6.2) | 0.004 | 223 (6.8) | 257 (7.0) | 0.006 | 565 (6.4) | 638 (8.3) | 0.073 |
| Insurance type, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| Medicare | 8956 (67.5) | 5454 (68.1) | 0.011 | 15,297 (59.1) | 4918 (57.3) | 0.038 | 1406 (43.2) | 1468 (39.9) | 0.066 | 4678 (52.8) | 4154 (53.9) | 0.022 |
| Medicaid | 783 (5.9) | 448 (5.6) | 0.014 | 1248 (4.8) | 391 (4.6) | 0.013 | 340 (10.4) | 350 (9.5) | 0.031 | 608 (6.9) | 539 (7.0) | 0.005 |
| Commercial | 3086 (23.3) | 1880 (23.5) | 0.005 | 8410 (32.5) | 3000 (34.9) | 0.051 | 1342 (41.2) | 1688 (45.9) | 0.095 | 3191 (36.0) | 2669 (34.7) | 0.029 |
| Other | 435 (3.3) | 231 (2.9) | 0.023 | 909 (3.5) | 280 (3.3) | 0.014 | 168 (5.2) | 172 (4.7) | 0.022 | 380 (4.3) | 340 (4.4) | 0.006 |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), n (%) | ||||||||||||
| CCI = 0 | 4757 (35.9) | 2900 (36.2) | 0.007 | 14,534 (56.2) | 5000 (58.2) | 0.041 | 1996 (61.3) | 2319 (63.1) | 0.036 | 5157 (58.2) | 4311 (56.0) | 0.046 |
| CCI = 1 | 5157 (38.9) | 3044 (38.0) | 0.019 | 3549 (13.7) | 1147 (13.4) | 0.011 | 371 (11.4) | 432 (11.7) | 0.011 | 1726 (19.5) | 1494 (19.4) | 0.002 |
| CCI ≥ 2 | 3346 (25.2) | 2069 (25.8) | 0.014 | 7781 (30.1) | 2442 (28.4) | 0.036 | 889 (27.3) | 927 (25.2) | 0.048 | 1974 (22.3) | 1897 (24.6) | 0.055 |
| Metastasis, n (%) | 1595 (12.0) | 883 (11.0) | 0.032 | 4385 (17.0) | 1340 (15.6) | 0.037 | 605 (18.6) | 589 (16.0) | 0.068 | 529 (6.0) | 552 (7.2) | 0.048 |
| Obese or overweight, n (%) | 1660 (12.5) | 1218 (15.2) | 0.078 | 4912 (19.0) | 1773 (20.6) | 0.041 | 562 (17.3) | 680 (18.5) | 0.032 | 1944 (21.9) | 1782 (23.1) | 0.028 |
| Current or former smoker, n (%) | 10,066 (75.9) | 6153 (76.8) | 0.021 | 9234 (35.7) | 3092 (36.0) | 0.006 | 1291 (39.6) | 1444 (39.3) | 0.008 | 3452 (39.0) | 3250 (42.2) | 0.066 |
| Surgeon specialty, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| Procedure specialist | 11,173 (84.3) | 7072 (88.3) | 0.116 | 7724 (29.9) | 3401 (39.6) | 0.206 | 1463 (44.9) | 2049 (55.7) | 0.217 | 8267 (93.3) | 7346 (95.4) | 0.089 |
| General surgery | 1080 (8.1) | 656 (8.2) | 0.002 | 15,368 (59.4) | 4532 (52.8) | 0.134 | 1470 (45.1) | 1325 (36.0) | 0.187 | 57 (0.6) | 31 (0.4) | 0.033 |
| Other/Unknown | 1007 (7.6) | 285 (3.6) | 0.177 | 2772 (10.7) | 656 (7.6) | 0.107 | 323 (9.9) | 304 (8.3) | 0.058 | 533 (6.0) | 325 (4.2) | 0.082 |
| Surgeon volume, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| Low | 3590 (27.1) | 1724 (21.5) | 0.130 | 7201 (27.8) | 2310 (26.9) | 0.021 | 754 (23.2) | 927 (25.2) | 0.048 | 3749 (42.3) | 1406 (18.3) | 0.543 |
| Medium | 4099 (30.9) | 2171 (27.1) | 0.084 | 8366 (32.3) | 2483 (28.9) | 0.075 | 876 (26.9) | 1041 (28.3) | 0.031 | 3885 (43.9) | 2392 (31.1) | 0.267 |
| High | 5571 (42.0) | 4118 (51.4) | 0.189 | 10,297 (39.8) | 3796 (44.2) | 0.089 | 1626 (49.9) | 1710 (46.5) | 0.069 | 1223 (13.8) | 3904 (50.7) | 0.859 |
| Hospital volume, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| Low | 3866 (29.2) | 1863 (23.2) | 0.135 | 8561 (33.1) | 2515 (29.3) | 0.083 | 858 (26.4) | 677 (18.4) | 0.192 | 3788 (42.8) | 2622 (34.0) | 0.180 |
| Medium | 4105 (31.0) | 2670 (33.3) | 0.051 | 9250 (35.8) | 3299 (38.4) | 0.055 | 1170 (35.9) | 1395 (37.9) | 0.041 | 3004 (33.9) | 2545 (33.0) | 0.019 |
| High | 5289 (39.9) | 3480 (43.4) | 0.072 | 8053 (31.1) | 2775 (32.3) | 0.025 | 1228 (37.7) | 1606 (43.7) | 0.121 | 2065 (23.3) | 2535 (32.9) | 0.215 |
| Teaching hospital, n (%) | 8502 (64.1) | 4915 (61.3) | 0.058 | 12,150 (47.0) | 4081 (47.5) | 0.011 | 1653 (50.8) | 2112 (57.4) | 0.134 | 4257 (48.1) | 4388 (57.0) | 0.179 |
| Urban Region, n (%) | 12,249 (92.4) | 7299 (91.1) | 0.047 | 22,758 (88.0) | 7904 (92.0) | 0.135 | 2931 (90.0) | 3408 (92.7) | 0.094 | 8009 (90.4) | 7101 (92.2) | 0.063 |
| Geographic region, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| Midwest | 2544 (19.2) | 1942 (24.2) | 0.123 | 5646 (21.8) | 1851 (21.6) | 0.007 | 667 (20.5) | 918 (25.0) | 0.107 | 1663 (18.8) | 2128 (27.6) | 0.211 |
| Northeast | 3020 (22.8) | 1483 (18.5) | 0.106 | 4373 (16.9) | 1342 (15.6) | 0.035 | 467 (14.3) | 553 (15.0) | 0.020 | 1366 (15.4) | 1288 (16.7) | 0.035 |
| South | 5599 (42.2) | 3718 (46.4) | 0.084 | 11,825 (45.7) | 4231 (49.3) | 0.071 | 1440 (44.2) | 1,761 (47.9) | 0.073 | 4255 (48.0) | 3216 (41.8) | 0.127 |
| West | 2097 (15.8) | 870 (10.9) | 0.146 | 4020 (15.5) | 1165 (13.6) | 0.056 | 682 (20.9) | 446 (12.1) | 0.239 | 1573 (17.8) | 1070 (13.9) | 0.106 |
| Hospital bed size, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| 0–299 beds | 2026 (15.3) | 1508 (18.8) | 0.094 | 8575 (33.2) | 2529 (29.4) | 0.080 | 870 (26.7) | 853 (23.2) | 0.082 | 2563 (28.9) | 2174 (28.2) | 0.016 |
| 300–499 beds | 4141 (31.2) | 1992 (24.9) | 0.142 | 7531 (29.1) | 2587 (30.1) | 0.022 | 1005 (30.9) | 1143 (31.1) | 0.005 | 2880 (32.5) | 1916 (24.9) | 0.170 |
| 500 + beds | 7093 (53.5) | 4513 (56.3) | 0.057 | 9758 (37.7) | 3473 (40.4) | 0.056 | 1381 (42.4) | 1682 (45.7) | 0.067 | 3414 (38.5) | 3612 (46.9) | 0.169 |
| Year of surgery, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| 2014 | 2286 (17.2) | 753 (9.4) | 0.232 | 5522 (21.4) | 657 (7.6) | 0.397 | 713 (21.9) | 297 (8.1) | 0.395 | 1266 (14.3) | 967 (12.6) | 0.051 |
| 2015 | 2405 (18.1) | 813 (10.1) | 0.231 | 5149 (19.9) | 911 (10.6) | 0.261 | 662 (20.3) | 408 (11.1) | 0.256 | 1475 (16.7) | 1115 (14.5) | 0.060 |
| 2016 | 2318 (17.5) | 1045 (13.0) | 0.124 | 4182 (16.2) | 1217 (14.2) | 0.056 | 600 (18.4) | 670 (18.2) | 0.006 | 1764 (19.9) | 1152 (15.0) | 0.131 |
| 2017 | 2333 (17.6) | 1434 (17.9) | 0.008 | 4239 (16.4) | 1703 (19.8) | 0.089 | 518 (15.9) | 760 (20.7) | 0.123 | 1615 (18.2) | 1433 (18.6) | 0.010 |
| 2018 | 2123 (16.0) | 1808 (22.6) | 0.167 | 3604 (13.9) | 1946 (22.7) | 0.227 | 404 (12.4) | 839 (22.8) | 0.276 | 1404 (15.9) | 1480 (19.2) | 0.089 |
| 2019 | 1795 (13.5) | 2160 (27.0) | 0.339 | 3168 (12.2) | 2155 (25.1) | 0.334 | 359 (11.0) | 704 (19.1) | 0.228 | 1333 (15.1) | 1555 (20.2) | 0.135 |
| Colon resection type, n (%) | ||||||||||||
| Left colectomy | NA | NA | 8410 (32.5) | 3455 (40.2) | 0.161 | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||
| Right colectomy | NA | NA | 17454 (67.5) | 5134 (59.8) | 0.161 | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||
Std diff standardized mean differences