Comparison of Treatment for Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis at a Public County Versus Private Academic Hospital.

OBJECTIVE

To compare patient, disease and treatment characteristics of patients treated for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) at a public county versus a private hospital.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study was conducted of adult patients undergoing treatment for RRP at a tertiary-care academic center (TAC, n = 48) versus public safety net hospital (PSNH, n = 14), both staffed by the same Otolaryngology providers.

RESULTS

There was no difference between cohorts in age, gender, medical comorbidities, history of juvenile-onset presentation, or history of prior treatment at a different institution. PSNH patients were more likely to be Hispanic/Latino, primarily speak Spanish, have public or no insurance, and reside in a zip code with lower median income compared with TAC patients. Despite living significantly closer to the hospital, PSNH patients were more likely than TAC patients to present with respiratory symptoms (50% versus 20.8%, P = 0.04), and exhibit more than one involved laryngeal subsite at their first surgical intervention (78.6% versus 27.1%, P = 0.001). They also had high rates of referral for otolaryngologic care via the emergency department (42.9%) rather than outpatient specialty referral (35.7%) and were more likely than TAC patients to require urgent intervention (21.4% versus 2.1%, P = 0.03). There was no difference in time interval from first clinic visit to procedure date or total number of treatments.

CONCLUSIONS

PSNH patients present with more severe and symptomatic RRP disease compared with TAC patients. This finding may be related to sociodemographic disparities leading to poorer access in care.