Sariego Jack
Department of Surgery, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Am J Surg. 2008 Oct;196(4):572-4. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2008.06.017.
It has been proposed that initial treatment for breast cancer varies greatly across the United States. However, one question that has not been answered completely is whether or not geographic location itself is an independent variable with regard to treatment.
The American College of Surgeons National Cancer Database Benchmark Reports (NCDB) were used to examine initial breast cancer treatment performed throughout the United States during the study period 1999-2003. These data were then stratified with regard to geographic region in accordance with the US Census Bureau classifications.
There was a statistically significant relationship between geographic region and initial treatment of breast cancer. Although there were statistically significant relationships between race and geographic region and stage and geographic region, when the data were controlled for stage and race, the regional differences persisted. Stage-for-stage and within each racial cohort, the geographic differences in treatment were still statistically significant.
This review suggests that geographic location within the United States is an independent variable with regard to breast cancer treatment.
有人提出，美国各地乳腺癌的初始治疗差异很大。然而，一个尚未完全得到解答的问题是，地理位置本身在治疗方面是否是一个独立变量。
利用美国外科医师学会国家癌症数据库基准报告（NCDB）来研究1999年至2003年研究期间美国各地进行的乳腺癌初始治疗。然后根据美国人口普查局的分类，按地理区域对这些数据进行分层。
地理区域与乳腺癌初始治疗之间存在统计学上的显著关系。尽管种族与地理区域以及分期与地理区域之间存在统计学上的显著关系，但在对数据进行分期和种族控制后，区域差异仍然存在。在每个分期以及每个种族队列中，治疗的地理差异在统计学上仍然显著。
本综述表明，在美国，地理位置在乳腺癌治疗方面是一个独立变量。
