Income level and regional policies, underlying factors associated with unwarranted variations in conservative breast cancer surgery in Spain.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Geographical variations in medical practice are expected to be small when the evidence about the effectiveness and safety of a particular technology is abundant. This would be the case of the prescription of conservative surgery in breast cancer patients. In these cases, when variation is larger than expected by need, socioeconomic factors have been argued as an explanation.

Objectives

Using an ecologic design, our study aims at describing the variability in the use of surgical conservative versus non-conservative treatment. Additionally, it seeks to establish whether the socioeconomic status of the healthcare area influences the use of one or the other technique.

Methods

81,868 mastectomies performed between 2002 and 2006 in 180 healthcare areas were studi

SUBMITTER: Ridao-Lopez M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3103476 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature