Radiotherapy in the Barwon South Western Region: a rural perspective Henry,MJ, Jones,P, Morrissy,K, Matheson,LM, Pitson,G, Healy,P, Coory,M, Lynch,R, Chapman,A and Ashley,D 2014, Radiotherapy in the Barwon South Western Region: a rural perspective, Journal of medical imaging and radiation oncology, vol. 58, no. 5, pp. 612-617, doi: 10.1111/1754-9485.12208. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Radiotherapy in the Barwon South Western Region: a rural perspective Author(s) Henry,MJ Jones,P Morrissy,K Matheson,LM Pitson,G Healy,P Coory,M Lynch,R Chapman,A Ashley,D Journal name Journal of medical imaging and radiation oncology Volume number 58 Issue number 5 Start page 612 End page 617 Publisher Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Place of publication Richmond, Vic Publication date 2014-10-01 ISSN 1754-9477 1754-9485 Keyword(s) Cancer Population-based Radiotherapy utilisation rate Rural Summary Introduction: Cancer-related mortality rates are higher in rural areas compared with urban regions. Whether there are corresponding geographical variations in radiotherapy utilisation rates (RURs) is the subject of this study. Methods: RURs for the regional centre of Geelong and rural areas of the Barwon South Western Region were calculated using a population-based database (2009). Results: Lower RURs were observed for rural patients compared with the Geelong region for prostate cancer (15.7% vs 25.8%, P = 0.02), rectal cancer (32.8% vs 44.7%, P = 0.11), lymphoma (9.4% vs 26.2%, P = 0.05), and all cancers overall (25.6% vs 28.9%, P = 0.06). This lower rate was significant in men (rural, 19.9%; Geelong, 28.3%; P = 0.00) but not in women (rural, 33.6%; Geelong, 29.7%; P = 0.88). Time from diagnosis to radiotherapy was not significantly different for patients from the two regions. Tumour staging within the rural and Geelong regions was not significantly different for the major tumour streams of rectal, prostate and lung cancer (P = 0.61, P = 0.79, P = 0.43, respectively). A higher proportion of tumours were unstaged or unstageable in the rural region for lung (44% vs 18%, P < 0.01) and prostate (73% vs 57%, P < 0.01) cancer. Conclusion: Lower RURs were observed in our rural region. Differences found within tumour streams and in men suggest a complexity of relationships that will require further study. Language eng DOI 10.1111/1754-9485.12208 Field of Research 111208 Radiation Therapy Socio Economic Objective 920102 Cancer and Related Disorders HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2014, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30068983 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Health School of Medicine Related Links Link Description Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges   Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Tue, 13 Jan 2015, 13:00:23 EST Wed, 14 Jan 2015, 04:00:42 EST Thu, 15 Jan 2015, 11:55:06 EST Sat, 17 Jan 2015, 05:08:04 EST Fri, 30 Jan 2015, 13:02:48 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 17 times in TR Web of Science Cited 18 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 294 Abstract Views, 1 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Tue, 13 Jan 2015, 13:00:23 EST