Effect of geographic distance from a cancer centre on choice of systemic therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer

e17559 Background: There is little data on whether geographic distance from patient residence to a treatment facility is a predictor of systemic therapy utilization or clinical trial (CT) enrollment. Therefore a retrospective chart review was undertaken to investigate this variable. Methods: Consecutive patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) assessed by a medical oncologist at the Juravinski Cancer Centre (JCC), Ontario during 2006 were selected. Patients with pathology other than adenocarcinoma and those with complete surgical resection of metastases were excluded. Distance and time to JCC were calculated using online mapping software. The study received full ethics approval. Results: 276 patients were included with full data available on 169 patients. Median travel time and distance to JCC were 23.0 minutes (min) and 19.2 kilometers (km), respectively. The maximum travel time was 120 min and 87% of patients lived within 60 min of JCC. Distance and time were highly correlated (p<0.0001). Overall, 43% of patients had discussed a CT with their oncologist and 20% enrolled in a CT. Patients living >50 km from JCC were less likely to discuss a CT (38%) or participate in a CT (15%) than patients who lived 25–50 km (39% and 19%) or <25 km (47% and 23%) from JCC. These trends did not attain statistical significance (odds ratio [OR] = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.66–1.17, p = 0.39 for CT discussion, OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.54–1.08, p = 0.13 for CT enrollment). Distance was not a statistically significant (p = 0.42) predictor of number of treatment regimens, however, 44% of patients <25 km from JCC received 3 or more lines of treatment compared with 33% of patients ≥25 km away. No association with survival was observed. Conclusions: Patients with mCRC living ≥25 km from JCC received fewer systemic regimens and were less likely to discuss or enter a CT. These trends were not statistically significant. Data collection is ongoing to increase the power of this study. No significant financial relationships to disclose.