Patterns of Care for Adjuvant Therapy in a Random Population-Based Sample of Patients Diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Mortality was decreased in patients receiving guideline therapy. Although, rates of guideline-concordant therapy are low in community clinical practice, they are apparently increasing. Newer treatment (oxaliplatin, capecitabine) started to disseminate in 2000. Racial disparities, present in 1995, were not detected in 2000. Age disparities remain despite no evidence of greater chemotherapy-induced toxicity in the elderly. More equitable receipt of cancer treatment to all segments of the community will help to reduce mortality.