Abstract
In Taiwan, cancer is the top cause of death, and the mortality rate of lung cancer is the highest of all cancers. Some studies have demonstrated that multidisciplinary team (MDT) care can improve survival rates of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, no study has discussed the effect of MDT care on different stages of NSCLC. The target population for this study consisted of patients with NSCLC newly diagnosed in the 2005–2010 Cancer Registry. The data was linked with the 2002–2011 National Health Insurance Research Database and the 2005–2011 Cause of Death Statistics Database. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to explore whether the involvement of MDT care had an effect on survival. This study applied the propensity score as a control variable to reduce selection bias between patients with and without involvement of MDT care. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of death of MDT participants with stage III & IV NSCLC was significantly lower than that of MDT non-participants (adjusted HR = 0.87, 95% confidence interval = 0.84-0.90). This study revealed that MDT care are significantly associated with higher survival rate of patients with stage III and IV NSCLC, and thus MDT care should be used in the treatment of these patients.
Highlights
Lung cancer is the most common cause of death among all cancers in humans
We built a multivariate logistic regression model that included the following factors: gender, age at diagnosed, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), catastrophic illness or injury, level of hospital, ownership of hospital, annual service volume of hospital, and cancer stage. This model was used to predict the probability that patients participated in multidisciplinary team (MDT) care; the factors can be used as variables in the following analysis using the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model
This study showed that MDT participants had a higher survival rate than MDT non-participants, and that MDT care was associated with lower mortality rate of patients of stage III and stage IV
Summary
Lung cancer is the most common cause of death among all cancers in humans. About 1.4 million people die from lung cancer worldwide.[1] According to the report of the World Health Organization, tracheal, bronchus and lung cancers, together, are the 7th leading cause of death, and were the only cancers among the top 10 causes of death in 2011 in the world.[2] The 5-year survival rate of lung cancer ranges from 73% in stage IA to 2% in stage. Multidisciplinary Team Care on Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. IV, and is about 16% overall.[3] In Taiwan, malignant tumor (cancer) is the top cause of death [4], and the mortality rate of lung cancer is the highest of all cancers.[5]
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