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Association Between Travel Distance, Hospital Volume, and Outcomes Following Resection of Cholangiocarcinoma

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery

Abstract

Background

The objective of the current study was to characterize the association between travel distance/hospital volume relative to outcomes following resection of cholangiocarcinoma.

Methods

Patients were identified using the 2004–2015 National Cancer Database and stratified into quartiles according to travel distance/hospital volume. Multivariable regression models were utilized to examine the impact of travel distance and hospital volume on quality-of-care metrics and overall survival.

Results

Among 5125 patients, the majority of patients had T1/2 (N = 2006, 41.1%) and N0 disease (N = 2498, 50.9%). Median hospital quartile surgical volumes in cases/year were low volume (LV) 6, intermediate low volume (ILV) 7, intermediate high volume (IHV) 12, and high volume (HV) 24 cases/year. Median travel distance quartiles in miles were short travel (ST) 2.7, intermediate short travel (IST) 7.9, intermediate long travel (ILT) 18.9, and long travel (LT) 84.7. Longer travel distances were associated with better overall survival, as every 10 miles was associated with a 2% decrease in mortality (p = 0.02). Differences in quality-of-care metrics were largely mediated through travel distance.

Conclusions

Travel distance and hospital volume were associated with certain quality-of-care metrics among patients with cholangiocarcinoma. After controlling for hospital volume and travel distance simultaneously, only travel distance was associated with decreased risk of mortality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 395 W. 12th Ave., Suite 670, Columbus, OH, USA

    Eliza W. Beal, Rittal Mehta, J. Madison Hyer, Anghela Paredes, Katiuscha Merath, Mary E. Dillhoff, Jordan Cloyd, Aslam Ejaz & Timothy M. Pawlik

Authors
  1. Eliza W. Beal
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  2. Rittal Mehta
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  3. J. Madison Hyer
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  4. Anghela Paredes
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  5. Katiuscha Merath
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  6. Mary E. Dillhoff
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  7. Jordan Cloyd
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  8. Aslam Ejaz
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  9. Timothy M. Pawlik
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Contributions

EWB, RM, JMH, AP, KM, MED, JC, AE, and TMP conceived of and designed this work. RM and EWB performed the data analysis. EWB drafted the manuscript. EWB, RM, JMH, AP, KM, MED, JC, AE, and TMP critically revised the manuscript, provided approval of the final version, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Timothy M. Pawlik.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Beal, E.W., Mehta, R., Hyer, J.M. et al. Association Between Travel Distance, Hospital Volume, and Outcomes Following Resection of Cholangiocarcinoma. J Gastrointest Surg 23, 944–952 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-019-04162-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-019-04162-8

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