Patients' perceptions of quality of care for colorectal cancer by race, ethnicity, and language.

Purpose: To identify opportunities for improving care, we evaluated patients' perceptions of the quality of their cancer care by race, ethnicity, and language.

Patients And Methods: We surveyed a population-based cohort of 1,067 patients with colorectal cancer in northern California approximately 9 months after diagnosis. Adjusting for clinical and demographic factors, mean problem scores were analyzed on a 100-point scale for six domains of care.

Use of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy for colorectal cancer in a population-based cohort.

Purpose: Randomized trials have demonstrated that adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival for patients with stage III colon cancer and that chemotherapy combined with radiation therapy improves survival for patients with stage II or III rectal cancer. This population-based study was designed to assess use of these treatments in clinical practice.

Patients And Methods: From the California Cancer Registry, we identified all patients diagnosed during 1996 to 1997 with stage III colon cancer (n = 1,422) and stage II or III rectal cancer (n = 534) in 22 northern California counties.