Lung cancer: an exploration of patient and general practitioner perspectives on the realities of care in rural Western Australia.

Objective: This study investigates if the pattern of diagnostic testing for suspected lung cancer, stage at diagnosis, patterns of specialist referral and treatment options offered to people in rural Western Australia are similar to those in the metropolitan area. It then explores the barriers to quality care in rural areas as perceived by GPs and patients.

Methods: There was a review of GP records to obtain clinical and referral information and an in-depth interview with patients and GPs concerning their perspectives of the quality of care.

Colorectal cancer surgical care and survival: do private health insurance, socioeconomic and locational status make a difference?

Background: The purpose of the present paper was to examine patterns of surgical care and the likelihood of death within 5 years after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, including the effects of demographic, locational and socioeconomic disadvantage and the possession of private health insurance.

Methods: The Western Australian Data Linkage System was used to extract all hospital morbidity, cancer and death records for people with a diagnosis of colorectal cancer from 1982 to 2001. Demographic, hospital and private health insurance information was available for all years and measures of socioeconomic and locational disadvantage from 1991.

Collection of population-based cancer staging information in Western Australia--a feasibility study.

Background: Routine data from cancer registries often lack information on stage of cancer, limiting their use. This study aimed to determine whether or not it is feasible to add cancer staging data to the routine data collections of a population-based Western Australian Cancer Registry (WACR).

Methods: For each of the five most common cancer types (prostate, colorectal, melanoma, breast and lung cancers), 60 cases were selected for staging.

The influence of socio-economic and locational disadvantage on patterns of surgical care for lung cancer in Western Australia 1982-2001.

Objective: Patterns of in-hospital surgical care for lung cancer in Western Australia were examined, including the effects of demographic, locational and socio-economic disadvantage and the possession of private health insurance, on the likelihood of receiving surgery.

Patients And Methods: The WA Record Linkage Project was used to extract hospital morbidity, cancer and death records of all people with lung cancer in Western Australia from 1982 to 2001. The likelihood of receiving lung cancer surgery was estimated, after adjustment for co-variates, using logistic regression.

The influence of socio-economic and locational disadvantage on survival after a diagnosis of lung or breast cancer in Western Australia.

Objective: The effects of demographic, locational and socio-economic disadvantage, and the influence of private health care on five-year mortality rates in patients with lung cancer or after breast cancer surgery in Western Australia were examined.

Methods: The Western Australian Record Linkage Project was used to extract all hospital morbidity, cancer and death records of all people with lung or breast cancer in Western Australia from 1982 to 1996. Mortality rate ratios after a diagnosis of lung cancer or breast cancer surgery were estimated using Cox regression.