Temporal trends in lung transplant center volume and outcomes in the United States.
Publicly available program-specific data from the scientific registry of transplant recipients were used to determine the association between adult lung transplant center volume and 1-year recipient mortality from 2000 to 2007. We found a significant inverse association between the center volume of adult lung transplants and 1-year recipient mortality that is growing more pronounced over time. We conclude that procedure volume is an increasingly important determinant of lung transplant center volume and that policies that improve the performance of low-volume centers or reduce the number of patients who use such centers may be warranted.
Scarborough
John E
JE
Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Scarb005@mc.duke.edu
Bennett
Kyla M
KM
Davis
Robert D
RD
Lin
Shu S
SS
Tracy
Elizabeth T
ET
Kuo
Paul C
PC
Pappas
Theodore N
TN
D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D033161:Government Regulation; D006291:Health Policy; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000639:trends*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult