Androgen-deprivation therapy for prostate cancer increases the risk of fracture.

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Risk of death from ischemic heart disease associated with radiation for breast cancer has substantially decreased over time.

This paper is concerned with the analysis of multivariate categorical data which are obtained from repeated measurement experiments. An expository discussion of pertinent hypotheses for such situations is given, and appropriate test statistics are developed through the application of weighted least squares methods. Special consideration is given to computational problems associated with the manipulation of large tables including the treatment of empty cells. Three applications of the methodology are provided.

BACKGROUND The role of androgen deprivation therapy in prostate carcinoma is controversial in earlier stages of disease. The authors examined the time trends and patterns of use for androgen deprivation in the form of gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or orchiectomy, in population‐based tumor registries. METHODS Data were obtained from the linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results‐Medicare database. A total of 100,274 men with prostate carcinoma diagnosed from 1991 through 1999 were selected. The main outcome was the proportion of men who received ≥ 1 dose of a GnRH agonist in the first 6 months of diagnosis. This was plotted by year and stratified for age, grade, stage as well as primary versus adjuvant usage. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine predictors of GnRH agonist use in the subset of patients with localized cancer. RESULTS There was a consistent increase in GnRH agonist use by year for all ages, stages, and grades. Even in men ≥ 80 years with localized stage and low to moderate grade tumors, primary GnRH agonist use increased over the study period, from 3.7% in 1991 to 30.9% in 1999 (P < 0.001). The multivariable analysis showed that significant variability in GnRH agonist use existed among SEER geographic regions. CONCLUSIONS The use of GnRH agonists for prostate carcinoma increased dramatically during the 1990s. This increase occurred across all stages and histologic grades of prostate carcinoma, and was greatest in patients ≥ 80 years. Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society.

BACKGROUND National and population-based information on the increase in patient care by hospitalists in the United States is lacking. METHODS Using a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries in 1995, 1997, 1999, and the period from 2001 through 2006, we identified 120,226 physicians in general internal medicine who were providing care to older patients in 5800 U.S. hospitals. We defined hospitalists as general internists who derived 90% or more of their Medicare claims for evaluation-and-management services from the care of hospitalized patients. We then calculated the percentage of all inpatient Medicare services provided by hospitalists and identified patient and hospital characteristics associated with the receipt of hospitalist services. RESULTS The percentage of physicians in general internal medicine who were identified as hospitalists increased from 5.9% in 1995 to 19.0% in 2006, and the percentage of all claims for inpatient evaluation-and-management services by general internists that were attributed to hospitalists increased from 9.1% to 37.1% during this same period. Accompanying the increase in care by hospitalists was an increase in the percentage of all hospitalized Medicare patients who were treated by general internists (both hospitalists and traditional, non–hospital-based general internists), from 46.4% in 1995 to 61.0% in 2006. In a multilevel, multivariable analysis controlling for patient and hospital characteristics, the odds of receiving care from a hospitalist increased by 29.2% per year from 1997 through 2006. In 2006, there was marked geographic variation in the rates of care provided by hospitalists, with rates of more than 70% in some hospital-referral regions. CONCLUSIONS These analyses of data from Medicare claims showed a substantial increase in the care of hospitalized patients by hospitalist physicians from 1995 to 2006.

There is a high level of agreement between SEER and Medicare reporting of radiation treatments after a cancer diagnosis, suggesting that either source can be used to assess radiation-related treatment patterns. However, for the most complete ascertainment of radiation use, both SEER and Medicare sources should be used.

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