Hospital volume differences and five-year survival from breast cancer.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hospital volume on long-term survival for women with breast cancer.


METHODS
Survival analysis and proportional-hazard modeling were used to assess 5-year survival and risk of death, adjusting for clinical and sociodemographic variables.


RESULTS
At 5 years, patients from very low-volume hospitals had a 60% greater risk of all-cause mortality than patients from high-volume hospitals.


CONCLUSIONS
Hospital volume of breast cancer surgical cases has a strong positive effect on 5-year survival. Research is needed to identify whether processes of care, especially postsurgical adjuvant treatments, contribute to survival differences.
Roohan
P J
PJ
New York State Department of Health, Albany, USA.
Bickell
N A
NA
Baptiste
M S
MS
Therriault
G D
GD
Ferrara
E P
EP
Siu
A L
AL
D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate