The Role of Rurality, Travel Time, and Neighborhood Socioeconomics on Patterns of Adjuvant Therapy Receipt Among Endometrial Cancer Patients.

Abstract

Background: Rural endometrial cancer (EC) patients are more likely to receive lower quality treatment compared to their urban peers. We evaluated the role of contextual factors (rurality, distance to care, community socioeconomics) on receipt of adjuvant therapy (AT): vaginal brachytherapy (VBT), external beam radiation (EBRT), and chemotherapy.

Methods: We analyzed SEER-Medicare and included stages IB grade 3 and stages II-IV. We used county-level rural-urban continuum codes to define rurality, the Yost index to measure community socioeconomics (SES) and measured of average driving time to gynecologic-oncology care. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate Odds Ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) evaluating AT receipt adjusting for patient-level clinical and demographic characteristics.

Results: A total of 7,572 individuals met inclusion criteria; 15% were rural residing. Rurality was only associated with lower odds any adjuvant therapy receipt among patients with stage IB EC (aOR 0.62, 95%CI 0.46-0.83). Increasing travel time was associated with lower odds of VBT (aOR 0.89, 95%CI 0.84-0.95). Residence in a low SES neighborhood was associated with lower odds of chemotherapy (aOR 0.79, 95%CI 0.67-0.92) and VBT (aOR 0.81, 0.69-0.95); however, associations were no longer significant adjusting for individual SES.

Conclusions: Travel time to gynecologic oncology care negatively impacts receipt of treatment regardless of rural or urban residence. Travel time may be a proxy for access to brachytherapy services and may explain the associations between travel and receipt of VBT.

Impact: Factors characterizing place of residence beyond rural/urban residence are important for predicting inequitable access to AT.