The role of sex in the outcomes of patients with biliary tract cancers remains unclear: A population-based study

Madeline Lemke; Yvonne DeWit; Sulaiman Nanji; Christopher M Booth; Jennifer A Flemming

doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.05.021

The role of sex in the outcomes of patients with biliary tract cancers remains unclear: A population-based study

Am J Surg. 2018 Dec;216(6):1118-1121. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.05.021. Epub 2018 Jun 19.

Authors

Madeline Lemke¹, Yvonne DeWit², Sulaiman Nanji³, Christopher M Booth⁴, Jennifer A Flemming⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
² Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
³ Department of Surgery, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Oncology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, Queen's University Cancer Research Institute, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: Jennifer.flemming2@kingstonhsc.ca.

PMID: 29934122
DOI: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.05.021

Abstract

Background: Differences in outcomes between males and females with biliary tract cancer (BTC) has been previously reported but not studied.

Methods: This was a population-based retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing BTC resection in Ontario between 2002 and 2012. Descriptive statistics on patient, disease, and treatment-related factors in each BTC subtype were reported. Kaplan Meier Curves and Cox Proportional Hazards analysis were used to examine the univariate relationship between sex and overall survival.

Results: 714 patients underwent resection of a BTC. Kaplan Meier Curves shows trends towards different survival for males and females in different BTC subtypes: improved for females with intrahepatic and ampullary cancers and poorer survival for females with perhilar and distal cholangiocarcinomas. These trends were not statistically significant.

Conclusions: Sex may be an important factor in overall survival following resection of BTC. Further work is needed to better characterize the relationship between sex and outcomes of BTC.

Keywords: Biliary tract cancer; Sex; Survival.

MeSH terms

Aged
Biliary Tract Neoplasms / mortality*
Biliary Tract Neoplasms / pathology
Biliary Tract Neoplasms / therapy
Female
Humans
Kaplan-Meier Estimate
Male
Middle Aged
Ontario
Proportional Hazards Models
Retrospective Studies
Sex Factors*
Survival Rate
Treatment Outcome