Impact of patient age on quality of care in the treatment of colorectal cancer: Results from the Florida Initiative for Quality Cancer Care (FIQCC)

Abstract

6548 Background: The quality of colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment has been suggested to vary by age, with older patients receiving poorer quality care. As part of a state-wide quality improvement effort, the FIQCC developed and implemented methods to assess the quality of care of several cancers among practices across the state of Florida. The current report focuses on the variability of adherence to CRC quality indicators for treatment and surveillance by patient age. Methods: Medical chart reviews were conducted of all patients first seen by a medical oncologist for CRC in 2006 at one of the 10 FIQCC sites (2 academic/8 community). Abstractors were trained and periodically monitored. Abstraction focused on assessing adherence to quality indicators consistent with evidence-, consensus-, and regulatory-based guidelines. Variability in adherence across age quartiles was evaluated using a Fisher's exact test. Of the 475 patients whose charts were reviewed, 53% were male, 80% were diagnosed with colon cancer and the median age was 65 years (range 27 to 92 years). Results: Adherence was consistently (p values>.05) high across all age quartiles for presence of chemotherapy flow sheets (85%-93%), assessment of body-surface area (98%-100%) and performance of complete colon evaluation within 12 months of surgery (87%-89%). Moderate-to-low adherence was consistent by age for performance of CEA test before (74%-84%) or in the 6 months after (75%-82%) surgery/chemotherapy, and documentation of planned chemotherapy dose (51%-59%). Adherence decreased with increasing age for documentation of discussion/referral for chemotherapy in non-metastatic CRC cases (100%, 99%, 93%, and 89%; p = 0.001), but was consistently adhered to for all ages among metastatic cases (100%). The documentation of consent for patients treated with chemotherapy also varied by age-quartile (63%. 57%, 79%, and 73%; p = 0.02). Conclusions: Overall quality of CRC treatment was not consistent across the broad spectrum of patient age. Our data suggest age related disparity in the recommendation for adjuvant chemotherapy. Efforts should be made to understand the reasons for these differences and to improve and standardize the quality of CRC care for patients across all age groups. No significant financial relationships to disclose.