Comparative effectiveness of prostate cancer treatments: evaluating statistical adjustments for confounding in observational data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Using observational data to assess the relative effectiveness of alternative cancer treatments is limited by patient selection into treatment, which often biases interpretation of outcomes. We evaluated methods for addressing confounding in treatment and survival of patients with early-stage prostate cancer in observational data and compared findings with those from a benchmark randomized clinical trial.

Methods

We selected 14 302 early-stage prostate cancer patients who were aged 66-74 years and had been treated with radical prostatectomy or conservative management from linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare data from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 2003. Eligibility criteria were similar to those from a clinical trial used to benchmark

SUBMITTER: Hadley J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2994860 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature