Radiotherapy Quality and Outcomes in Prostate Cancer

描述（由申请方提供）：拟定的研究将评价临床局限性前列腺癌的外射束放疗质量，并将观察到的变异与无事件生存期和治疗后发病率相关。在患有临床局限性疾病的男性中，研究记录了死亡率和发病率结局的种族和社会经济差异。我们解决的问题是否在放射治疗的质量变化可以解释所观察到的差异的一部分。本研究的数据源将是链接的监测，流行病学和最终结果（SEER）-医疗保险数据库。在具体目标1中，我们将描述放射治疗质量的变化及其与患者人口统计学和临床特征以及获得护理的关系。在特定目标2中，我们将研究放射治疗质量与无事件生存率和治疗后发病率之间的关系。我们假设，在坚持放疗质量的措施和患者因素，如非西班牙裔白色种族和更高的社会经济地位可能预测接受更高质量的放疗存在变异。此外，我们假设更高的放射治疗质量表现与更长的无事件生存期和更低的发病率相关。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study will evaluate the quality of external beam radiotherapy for clinically localized prostate cancer and relate variation observed to event-free survival and post-therapy morbidity. Among men with clinically localized disease, studies have documented racial and socioeconomic disparities in mortality and morbidity outcomes. We address the question of whether variation in the quality of radiotherapy may explain a portion of the observed disparities. The data source for this research will be the linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database. In Specific Aim 1, we will characterize variation in the quality of radiotherapy and its relation to patient demographic and clinical characteristics and access to care. In Specific Aim 2, we will examine the relation between radiotherapy quality and event-free survival and post-therapy morbidity. We hypothesize that variation exists in adherence to radiotherapy quality measures and that patient factors like non-Hispanic white race and higher socioeconomic status may predict for receipt of higher quality radiotherapy. Furthermore, we hypothesize that higher radiotherapy quality performance is associated with longer event-free survival and lower morbidity.