title: Quality indicators for oesophageal and gastric cancer: a population-based study in Belgium, 2004-2008.
abstract: This study aimed at developing and measuring quality indicators for oesophageal cancer (OC) and gastric cancer (GC) and to support quality improvement for practitioners. Quality indicators were identified from a systematic literature search including clinical guidelines. The selection process involved experts evaluating relevance, reliability, interpretability and actionability of each indicator. Three national databases were linked: the cancer registry, the population registry and the claims database. Completeness and validity of the data were validated before being measured for 10,660 patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2008. From a final set of 29 indicators, 18 were measurable using the available data. In 2008, less than 50% of patients were discussed at a multidisciplinary team meeting and less than 90% underwent a computed tomography scan 1 month after incidence date for cancer staging. Five-year relative survival was 22% for OC and 34.3% for GC. The post-operative mortality in OC patients was 4.8% (30 days) and 9.9% (90 days), whereas it reached 5.6 and 12.0% respectively in GC patients. This study demonstrates the feasibility to develop a set of quality indicators for gastro-oesophageal cancer. A mixed picture of the quality of care was illustrated for some relevant care processes. Nevertheless, 5-year survival is higher than reported in neighbouring countries.
authors.affiliation: Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stordeur
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vlayen
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vrijens
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Camberlin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Gendt
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Van Eycken
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lerut
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001530:Belgium; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: esophageal neoplasms; quality assurance; quality indicators; quality of health care; stomach neoplasms; survival analysis