Factors associated with lung cancer patients refusing treatment and their survival: a national cohort study under a universal health insurance in Taiwan.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lung cancer is the leading cause mortality among all cancers in Taiwan. Although Taiwan offers National Health Insurance (NHI), occasionally, patients refuse treatment. This study examined the patient characteristics and factors associated with lung cancer patients refusing cancer treatment in four months after cancer diagnosed and compared the survival differences between treated and non-treated patients.

Methods

The study included 38584 newly diagnosed lung cancer patients between 2004 and 2008, collected from the Taiwan Cancer Registry, which was linked with NHI research database and Cause of Death data set. Logistic regression was conducted to analyze factors associated with treatment refusal. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the effects

SUBMITTER: Huang HL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4084901 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature