The impact of patient comorbidity on cancer stage at diagnosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

It is known that cancer stage is affected by comorbidity, but the evidence regarding the magnitude and even direction of this effect is highly inconsistent and poorly understood. The aims of this study were to establish the impact of comorbidity on cancer stage at diagnosis, using both specific individual comorbid conditions and a global measure of comorbidity; and to assess whether this impact varied by cancer site, level of comorbidity burden and individual comorbidity type.

Methods

We examined comorbidity among 14,096 patients with breast, colon, rectal, liver, stomach, ovarian, uterine, bladder or kidney cancer. Patients were identified from cancer registry data, and then linked to hospitalisation data to determine the presence of comorbidity in the 5 years pr

SUBMITTER: Gurney J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4815795 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature