Rurality and Use of Metastasis-Directed Therapies for Medicare Beneficiaries with Metastatic Colon Cancer: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Liver- and lung-directed local therapies can eradicate metastatic disease and prolong survival for selected patients with oligometastatic colon cancer. Evidence about the association of rurality with access to metastasis-directed therapies and survival outcomes is limited.

Methods

A retrospective study analyzed fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries with colon cancer metastatic to liver and/or lung using claims from 2016-2019. The exposure of interest was residential rurality, categorized as metropolitan versus non-metropolitan (i.e., rural). The study evaluated the association of rurality with use of metastasis-directed therapies (surgery, stereotactic radiation, and ablation) via multivariable logistic regression. Survival analyses used proportional hazards regr

SUBMITTER: Ladage VP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12742600 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature