Access to specialized pediatric cancer care in Switzerland.
Data(s) |
2010
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Resumo |
BACKGROUND: Specialized pediatric cancer centers (PCCs) are thought to be essential to obtain state-of-the-art care for children and adolescents. We determined the proportion of childhood cancer patients not treated in a PCC, and described their characteristics and place of treatment. PROCEDURE: The Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR) registers all children treated in Swiss PCCs. The regional cancer registries (covering 14/26 cantons) register all cancer patients of a region. The children of the SCCR with data from 7 regions (11 cantons) were compared, using specialized software for record linkage. All children <16 years of age at diagnosis with primary malignant tumors, diagnosed between 1990 and 2004, and living in one of these regions were included in the analysis. RESULTS: 22.1% (238/1,077) of patients recorded in regional registries were not registered in the SCCR. Of these, 15.7% (169/1,077) had never been in a PCC while 6.4% (69/1,077) had been in a PCC but were not registered in the SCCR, due to incomplete data flow. In all diagnostic groups and in all age groups, a certain proportion of children was treated outside a PCC, but this proportion was largest in children suffering from malignant bone tumors/soft tissue sarcomas and from malignant epithelial neoplasms, and in older children. The proportion of patients treated in a PCC increased over the study period (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: One in six childhood cancer patients in Switzerland was not treated in a PCC. Whether these patients have different treatment outcomes remained unclear. |
Identificador |
http://serval.unil.ch/?id=serval:BIB_246A7F3D7905 isbn:1545-5017 (Electronic) pmid:20108340 doi:10.1002/pbc.22426 isiid:000275935700013 |
Idioma(s) |
en |
Fonte |
Pediatric Blood and Cancer, vol. 54, no. 5, pp. 721-727 |
Palavras-Chave | #Adolescent; Cancer Care Facilities/utilization; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Health Services Accessibility; Hospitals, Pediatric/utilization; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Likelihood Functions; Male; Multivariate Analysis; Neoplasms/therapy; Quality of Health Care; Registries/statistics & numerical data; Switzerland |
Tipo |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article article |