Area-level poverty is associated with greater risk of ambulatory-care-sensitive hospitalizations in older breast cancer survivors

Neighborhood Characteristics and Cancer Survivorship: An Overview of the Current Literature on Neighborhood Landscapes and Cancer Care

There is a growing literature on the association between neighborhood contexts and cancer survivorship. To understand the current trends and the gaps in the literature, we aimed to answer the following questions: To what degree, and how, has cancer survivorship research accounted for neighborhood-level effects? What neighborhood metrics have been used to operationalize neighborhood factors? To what degree do the neighborhood level metrics considered in cancer research reflect neighborhood development as identified in the Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) guidelines? We first conducted a review guided by PRISMA extension for scoping review of the extant literature on neighborhood effects and cancer survivorship outcomes from January 2000 to January 2021. Second, we categorized the studied neighborhood metrics under six main themes. Third, we assessed the findings based on the LEED-ND guidelines to identify the most relevant neighborhood metrics in association with areas of focus in cancer survivorship care and research. The search results were scoped to 291 relevant peer-reviewed journal articles. Results show that survivorship disparities, primary care, and weight management are the main themes in the literature. Additionally, most articles rely on neighborhood SES as the primary (or only) examined neighborhood level metric. We argue that the expansion of interdisciplinary research to include neighborhood metrics endorsed by current paradigms in salutogenic urban design can enhance the understanding of the role of socioecological context in survivorship care and outcomes.

Impact of Race and Socioeconomic Status on Outcomes in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19

BACKGROUND

The impact of race and socioeconomic status on clinical outcomes has not been quantified in patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association between patient sociodemographics and neighborhood disadvantage with frequencies of death, invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), and intensive care unit (ICU) admission in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Four hospitals in an integrated health system serving southeast Michigan.

PARTICIPANTS

Adult patients admitted to the hospital with a COVID-19 diagnosis confirmed by polymerase chain reaction.

MAIN MEASURES

Patient sociodemographics, comorbidities, and clinical outcomes were collected. Neighborhood socioeconomic variables were obtained at the census tract level from the 2018 American Community Survey. Relationships between neighborhood median income and clinical outcomes were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression models, controlling for patient age, sex, race, Charlson Comorbidity Index, obesity, smoking status, and living environment.

KEY RESULTS

Black patients lived in significantly poorer neighborhoods than White patients (median income: $34,758 (24,531-56,095) vs. $63,317 (49,850-85,776), p < 0.001) and were more likely to have Medicaid insurance (19.4% vs. 11.2%, p < 0.001). Patients from neighborhoods with lower median income were significantly more likely to require IMV (lowest quartile: 25.4%, highest quartile: 16.0%, p < 0.001) and ICU admission (35.2%, 19.9%, p < 0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, race, and comorbidities, higher neighborhood income ($10,000 increase) remained a significant negative predictor for IMV (OR: 0.95 (95% CI 0.91, 0.99), p = 0.02) and ICU admission (OR: 0.92 (95% CI 0.89, 0.96), p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Neighborhood disadvantage, which is closely associated with race, is a predictor of poor clinical outcomes in COVID-19. Measures of neighborhood disadvantage should be used to inform policies that aim to reduce COVID-19 disparities in the Black community.

The association of continuity of care and risk of mortality in breast cancer patients with cardiometabolic comorbidities

OBJECTIVE

The association of continuity of care (COC) among providers and mortality risk for breast cancer patients with comorbidities is not sufficiently studied.

DESIGN

A retrospective cohort study using the 2006-2014 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare data.

PARTICIPANTS

Newly diagnosed female breast cancer patients (n = 57,578) with comorbidities (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and/or diabetes).

METHODS

All-cause mortality was assessed annually for up to 5 years. COC was estimated using the Bice-Boxerman index, which included: 1) specialty COC capturing continuity of visits to the same provider type (Primary Care Physicians, Oncologists, and Other specialists) and 2) individual COC capturing continuous care to the same provider regardless of provider specialty. Cox proportional hazards models estimated the hazard ratio (HR) of all-cause mortality across quartile of the COC index.

RESULTS

Mortality was positively associated with advanced tumor stages and number of comorbidities (p < 0.05). Patients with high specialty COC (4th vs. 1st quartile, HR 1.34, 95%CI 1.29-1.40) had higher risks of mortality compared with those with low specialty COC. However, patients with high individual COC (4th vs. 1st quartile, HR 0.53, 95%CI 0.51-0.54) had lower risks of mortality compared to those with low individual COC.

CONCLUSION

Receiving care from fewer providers is associated with lower mortality and from fewer types of provider is associated with higher mortality. The results might be confounded by uncontrolled factors and provoke the need for alternative patient care models that recognize the balance between appropriate subspecialties and minimizing the fragmentation of care within and across subspecialties.

Liver Cancer Incidence and Area-Level Geographic Disparities in Pennsylvania-A Geo-Additive Approach

Many neighborhood socioeconomic index measures (nSES) that capture neighborhood deprivation exist but the impact of measure selection on liver cancer (LC) geographic disparities remains unclear. We introduce a Bayesian geoadditive modeling approach to identify clusters in Pennsylvania (PA) with higher than expected LC incidence rates, adjusted for individual-level factors (age, sex, race, diagnosis year) and compared them to models with 7 different nSES index measures to elucidate the impact of nSES and measure selection on LC geospatial variation. LC cases diagnosed from 2007–2014 were obtained from the PA Cancer Registry and linked to nSES measures from U.S. census at the Census Tract (CT) level. Relative Risks (RR) were estimated for each CT, adjusted for individual-level factors (baseline model). Each nSES measure was added to the baseline model and changes in model fit, geographic disparity and state-wide RR ranges were compared. All 7 nSES measures were strongly associated with high risk clusters. Tract-level RR ranges and geographic disparity from the baseline model were attenuated after adjustment for nSES measures. Depending on the nSES measure selected, up to 60% of the LC burden could be explained, suggesting methodologic evaluations of multiple nSES measures may be warranted in future studies to inform LC prevention efforts.

Contextual effects and cancer outcomes in the United States: a systematic review of characteristics in multilevel analyses

PURPOSE

There is increasing call for the utilization of multilevel modeling to explore the relationship between place-based contextual effects and cancer outcomes in the United States. To gain a better understanding of how contextual factors are being considered, we performed a systematic review.

METHODS

We reviewed studies published between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2016 and assessed the following attributes: (1) contextual considerations such as geographic scale and contextual factors used; (2) methods used to quantify contextual factors; and (3) cancer type and outcomes. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science and initially identified 1060 studies. One hundred twenty-two studies remained after exclusions.

RESULTS

Most studies utilized a two-level structure; census tracts were the most commonly used geographic scale. Socioeconomic factors, health care access, racial/ethnic factors, and rural-urban status were the most common contextual factors addressed in multilevel models. Breast and colorectal cancers were the most common cancer types, and screening and staging were the most common outcomes assessed in these studies.

CONCLUSIONS

Opportunities for future research include deriving contextual factors using more rigorous approaches, considering cross-classified structures and cross-level interactions, and using multilevel modeling to explore understudied cancers and outcomes.

Health-care utilization by prognosis profile in a managed care setting: using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Cancer Survival Calculator SEER*CSC

BACKGROUND

Accurate estimation of the probability of dying of cancer versus other causes is needed to inform goals of care for cancer patients. Further, prognosis may also influence health-care utilization. This paper describes health service utilization patterns of subgroups of prostate cancer and colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with different relative probabilities of dying of their cancer or other conditions.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort of cancer patients from Kaiser Permanente Colorado were divided into three groups using the predicted probabilities of dying of cancer and other causes calculated by the nomograms in the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Cancer Survival Calculator. Demographic, disease-related characteristics, and health service utilization patterns were described across subgroups.

RESULTS

The cohort consisted of 2092 patients (1102 prostate cancer and 990 CRC). A new diagnosis of cancer increased utilization of cancer-related services with rates as high as 9.1/1000 person-days for prostate cancer and 36.2/1000 person-days for CRC. Little change was observed in the number of primary and other specialty care visits from prediagnosis to 1 and 2 years postdiagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that although a new diagnosis of cancer increased utilization of cancer-related services for an extended time period, the timing of cancer diagnosis did not appear to affect other types of utilization. Future research should assess the reason for the lack of impact of cancer and unrelated comorbid conditions on utilization and whether desired outcomes of care were achieved.

A checklist for ascertaining study cohorts in oncology health services research using secondary data: report of the ISPOR oncology good outcomes research practices working group

OBJECTIVES

The ISPOR Oncology Special Interest Group formed a working group at the end of 2010 to develop standards for conducting oncology health services research using secondary data. The first mission of the group was to develop a checklist focused on issues specific to selection of a sample of oncology patients using a secondary data source.

METHODS

A systematic review of the published literature from 2006 to 2010 was conducted to characterize the use of secondary data sources in oncology and inform the leadership of the working group prior to the construction of the checklist. A draft checklist was subsequently presented to the ISPOR membership in 2011 with subsequent feedback from the larger Oncology Special Interest Group also incorporated into the final checklist.

RESULTS

The checklist includes six elements: identification of the cancer to be studied, selection of an appropriate data source, evaluation of the applicability of published algorithms, development of custom algorithms (if needed), validation of the custom algorithm, and reporting and discussions of the ascertainment criteria. The checklist was intended to be applicable to various types of secondary data sources, including cancer registries, claims databases, electronic medical records, and others.

CONCLUSIONS

This checklist makes two important contributions to oncology health services research. First, it can assist decision makers and reviewers in evaluating the quality of studies using secondary data. Second, it highlights methodological issues to be considered when researchers are constructing a study cohort from a secondary data source.

Methodological challenges of measuring primary care delivery to pediatric medicaid beneficiaries who use community health centers

Efforts to measure quality of care have focused on ambulatory care providers. We examined the performance of community health centers serving children on Medicaid in 3 states. Descriptive analysis showed considerable patient population heterogeneity, and regression analysis demonstrated that variation explained by the assigned provider was small (mean R(2) = 4.3%) compared with the variation explained by patient demographic variables (mean R(2) = 29.9%). The results reinforce the need for caution when one is attributing quality differences to provider performance.

An international review of the patterns and determinants of health service utilisation by adult cancer survivors

Background

There is a need to review factors related to health service utilisation by the increasing number of cancer survivors in order to inform care planning and the organisation and delivery of services.

Methods

Studies were identified via systematic searches of Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Social Science Citation Index and the SEER-MEDICARE library. Methodological quality was assessed using STROBE; and the Andersen Behavioural Model was used as a framework to structure, organise and analyse the results of the review.

Results

Younger, white cancer survivors were most likely to receive follow-up screening, preventive care, visit their physician, utilise professional mental health services and least likely to be hospitalised. Utilisation rates of other health professionals such as physiotherapists were low. Only studies of health service use conducted in the USA investigated the role of type of health insurance and ethnicity. There appeared to be disparate service use among US samples in terms of ethnicity and socio-demographic status, regardless of type of health insurance provision s- this may be explained by underlying differences in health-seeking behaviours. Overall, use of follow-up care appeared to be lower than expected and barriers existed for particular groups of cancer survivors.

Conclusions

Studies focussed on the use of a specific type of service rather than adopting a whole-system approach and future health services research should address this shortcoming. Overall, there is a need to improve access to care for all cancer survivors. Studies were predominantly US-based focussing mainly on breast or colorectal cancer. Thus, the generalisability of findings to other health-care systems and cancer sites is unclear. The Andersen Behavioural Model provided an appropriate framework for studying and understanding health service use among cancer survivors. The active involvement of physicians and use of personalised care plans are required in order to ensure that post-treatment needs and recommendations for care are met.

Mediators of the effect of neighborhood poverty on physical functioning among breast cancer survivors: a longitudinal study

PURPOSE

Female breast cancer survivors, a large and growing population, experience impaired physical functioning after treatment. Survivors living in impoverished neighborhoods may suffer even greater impairment, but the mechanisms linking neighborhood poverty and individual outcomes are poorly understood. This study sought to identify mediators of the effect of neighborhood poverty on physical functioning using longitudinal data from a Missouri cancer registry-based sample of 909 female breast cancer survivors.

METHODS

Survivors were recruited 1 year after diagnosis (Y1) and completed two telephone interviews, at Y1 and 1 year later (Y2). The association between census-tract-level poverty and physical functioning (RAND SF-36) was tested using a multilevel a priori path model with 19 hypothesized mediators, demographic and socioeconomic confounders, and covariates. Hypothesized mediators included clinical and treatment variables, psychosocial factors (depression, stress, social support), perceived neighborhood characteristics, behavioral risk factors (physical activity, smoking, body mass index, alcohol use), and comorbidity.

RESULTS

In unadjusted analysis, women living in neighborhoods with higher poverty were more likely to report lower physical functioning at Y2 (β = -.19, p < .001). The final mediated model fit the data well (χ(2)(8) = 12.25, p = 0.14; CFI = .996; RMSEA = .024). The effect of neighborhood poverty on physical functioning was fully mediated by physical activity and body mass index.

CONCLUSIONS

Breast cancer survivors living in neighborhoods with greater poverty reported lower physical functioning, but this effect was fully explained by physical activity and body mass index. Community-based lifestyle interventions sensitive to the unique challenges faced by cancer survivors and the challenges of living in a high-poverty neighborhood are needed to ameliorate neighborhood socioeconomic disparities in physical functioning.

Integrated oncogeriatric approach: a systematic review of the literature using concept analysis

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to provide a more precise definition of an integrated oncogeriatric approach (IOGA) through concept analysis.

DATA SOURCES

The literature was reviewed from January 2005 to April 2011 integrating three broad terms: geriatric oncology, multidisciplinarity and integrated care delivery models.

STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Citation selection was based on: (1) elderly cancer patients as the study population; (2) disease management and (3) case studies, intervention studies, assessments, evaluations and studies. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were refined in the course of the literature search.

INTERVENTIONS

Initiatives in geriatric oncology that relate to oncology services, social support services and primary care services for elderly cancer patients.

PARTICIPANTS

Elderly cancer patients aged 70 years old or more.

STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS

Rodgers' concept analysis method was used for this study. The analysis was carried out according to thematic analysis based on the elements of the Chronic Care Model.

RESULTS

The search identified 618 citations. After in-depth appraisal of 327 potential citations, 62 articles that met our inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. Three IOGA main attributes were identified, which constitute IOGA's core aspects: geriatric assessment (GA), comorbidity burden and treatment outcomes. The IOGA concept comprises two broad antecedents: coordinated healthcare delivery and primary supportive care services. Regarding the consequents of an integrated approach in geriatric oncology, the studies reviewed remain inconclusive.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study highlights the pioneering character of the multidimensional IOGA concept, for which the relationship between clinical and organisational attributes, on the one hand, and contextual antecedents, on the other, is not well understood. We have yet to ascertain IOGA's consequents. IMPLICATIONS OF KEY FINDINGS: There is clearly a need for a whole-system approach to change that will provide direction for multilevel (clinical, organisational, strategic) interventions to support interdisciplinary practice, education and research.