Factors influencing treatment recommendations in early-stage Hodgkin's disease: a survey of physicians.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to explore variation in practice patterns and identify factors associated with physicians' treatment decisions for early-stage Hodgkin's disease.


METHODS
We conducted a one-time mail survey of oncologists randomly selected from directories of national oncology societies (n = 207) and Hodgkin's disease experts (n = 147). The survey included questions on (i) physician factors, (ii) preferred treatment choices for six case scenarios of early-stage Hodgkin's disease that varied by patient factors, and (iii) thresholds for changing treatment recommendations.


RESULTS
The response rate was 50%. For non-bulky Hodgkin's disease, 69% of respondents chose combined modality therapy (CMT). On multivariate analysis, physician factors that independently predicted for choice of CMT included a high Hodgkin's disease case load (P = 0.02) and a high percentage of patients enrolled in clinical trials (P = 0.05). Radiation oncologists had a lower threshold for adding radiation therapy (P = 0.02). More experience with second malignancy cases and longer time in practice were associated with a higher threshold for adding radiation therapy (P = 0.04 and P = 0.008, respectively). In stratified analyses, treatment decisions of non-experts were significantly influenced by physician factors, but not by patient factors. Conversely, choices of Hodgkin's disease experts were insensitive to all physician factors, but experts were significantly more likely to select chemotherapy alone in young women and CMT in older patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that physician factors including practice type and experience may in part explain variation in practice pattern for Hodgkin's disease therapy. Hodgkin's disease experts are more likely to tailor therapy according to individual patient factors.
Ng
A K
AK
Department of Radiation Oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ang@lroc.harvard.edu
Li
S
S
Neuberg
D
D
Silver
B
B
Weeks
J
J
Mauch
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011361:Professional Competence; D011379:Prognosis; D018787:Radiation Oncology