The Improved Effects of a Multidisciplinary Team on the Survival of Breast Cancer Patients: Experiences from China

Jianlong Lu, Yan Jiang, Mengcen Qian, Lilang Lv and Xiaohua Ying
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Jianlong Lu: NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment (Fudan University), School of Public Health, Fudan University, Dongan Road 130, Shanghai 200032, China
Yan Jiang: Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Dongan Road 270, Shanghai 200032, China
Mengcen Qian: NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment (Fudan University), School of Public Health, Fudan University, Dongan Road 130, Shanghai 200032, China
Lilang Lv: Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Dongan Road 270, Shanghai 200032, China
Xiaohua Ying: NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment (Fudan University), School of Public Health, Fudan University, Dongan Road 130, Shanghai 200032, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: This study aimed to explore whether different multidisciplinary team (MDT) organizations have different effects on the survival of breast cancer patients. A total of 16354 patients undergoing breast cancer surgery during the period 2006–2016 at the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center were retrospectively extracted. Patients treated by MDT were divided into a well-organized group and a disorganized group based on their organized MDT, professional attendance, style of data and information delivery, and the length of discussion time for each patient. Other patients, who were not treated by MDT, were placed in a non-MDT group as a comparator group. Each MDT patient was matched with a non-MDT patient, using propensity score matching to reduce selection bias. The Cox regression model was used to examine the difference in effects between groups. We found that the five-year survival rate of the well-organized MDT group was 15.6% higher than the non-MDT group. However, five-year survival rate of the disorganized MDT group was 19.9% lower than that of the non-MDT group. Patients in the well-organized MDT group had a longer survival time than patients in the non-MDT group (HR = 0.4), while the disorganized MDT group had a worse survival rate than the non-MDT group (HR = 2.8) based on the Cox model result. However, our findings indicate that a well-organized MDT may improve the survival rate of patients with breast cancer in China.

Keywords: multidisciplinary team meeting; breast cancer; propensity score matching; survival analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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