Association of institutional transition of cancer care with mortality in elderly patients with lung cancer: a retrospective cohort study using national claim data

Background: Although survival based outcomes of lung cancer patients have been well developed, institutional transition of cancer care, that is, when patients transfer from primary visiting hospitals to other hospitals, and mortality have not yet been explored using a large-scale representative population-based sample. Methods: Data from the Korean National Elderly Sampled Cohort survey were used to identify patients with lung cancer who were diagnosed during 2005–2013 and followed up with for at least 1 year after diagnosis (3738 patients with lung cancer aged over 60 years). First, the authors examined the distribution of the study population by mortality, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves/log-rank test were used to compare mortality based on institutional transition of cancer care. Survival analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model was conducted after controlling for all other variables. Results: Results showed that 1-year mortality was higher in patients who underwent institutional transition of cancer care during 30 days after diagnosis (44.2% vs. 39.7%, p =.027); however, this was not associated with 5-year mortality. The Cox proportional hazard model showed that patients who underwent institutional transition of cancer care during 30 days after diagnosis exhibited statistically significant associations with high mortality for 1 year and 5 years (1-year mortality, Hazard ratio [HR]: 1.279, p =.001; 5-year mortality, HR: 1.158, p =.002). Conclusion: This study found that institutional transition of cancer care was associated with higher mortality among elderly patients with lung cancer. Future consideration should also be given to the limitation of patients’ choice when opting for institutional transition of care since there are currently no control mechanisms in this regard. Results of this study merit health policymakers’ attention.