Access to radiotherapy in improving gastric cancer care quality and equality

Abstract

Quality health services could improve patient outcomes and prognosis. Gastric cancer care was of great disparity across genders. Disparities within radiotherapy units could impact gastric cancer care, potentially exacerbating gender-based inequalities. We retrieved the disease burden data from Global Burden of Disease 2019. A quality of care index was constructed by applying principal component analysis techniques. The disparity of gastric cancer care across genders was described, and the association of access to radiotherapy with gastric cancer care as well as gender disparity was explored. Males receive better quality of gastric cancer care than females, and this gender disparity is widening in middle-low socio-development regions. A positive correlation emerges between the density of radiotherapy facilities and an elevated quality of care, and reduced gender-based disparities. The association between robust radiotherapy access, improved gastric cancer QCI, and reduced gender-based disparities spotlights the imperative of fortifying radiotherapy infrastructure within areas and populations in greatest need. Gastric cancer is a prevalent disease which ranked fifth for incidence and fourth for mortality among all cancer types globally. Great differences in the quality of gastric cancer care have been reported across regions, countries and genders. Accessibility to essential treatment, especially radiotherapy units used in treatment, could impact the quality of gastric cancer care. We studied the role of health technologies in promoting gastric cancer care quality and equality. Our results identified an association between radiotherapy access and improved quality of gastric cancer care and reduced gender-based disparities. Results of this study highlighted the importance of increasing access to radiotherapy treatment in improving global health equality. Wang et al. constructed an index reflecting the quality of global gastric cancer care. They identified an association between robust radiotherapy access, improved gastric cancer QCI, and reduced gender-based disparities, and spotlighted the importance of fortifying radiotherapy infrastructure within areas and populations of greatest need.