Influence of Distance from Home to Hospital on Survival among Lung Cancer Patients

Abstract

The objective of this study was to clarify how distance from place of residence to the nearest specialist cancer hospital affects the survival rates of lung cancer patients and the treatment provided by hospitals. All patients diagnosed with lung cancer in the Aomori cancer registry database for the period from 2009 to 2011 (n=3,986). The distance to hospital was measured as the straight line distance from a person's place of residence to his or her treating hospital, and we used the Ederer II method for calculating relative survival. The information of treatments given was obtained by data extraction. We defined the hospital having respiratory medicine as Specialist hospital. All private hospital and clinic were included in General hospital and clinic. Patients attending specialist hospital were 2,548 (67.0%), and general hospital and clinic were 1,255 (33.0%). The patient who had the lowest relative survival in localized group lived