Relationship between environmental condition and survival of confirmed diagnosed cancer patients-A case study of a regional hospital in central Taiwan

• Main Authors: Hsiu-Tuan Wu, 吳秀端
• Other Authors: Shu-Hsien Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/30982778755270967793

碩士 === 中臺科技大學 === 健康產業管理研究所 === 99 === Since 1982, cancer has been in the first place among the top ten leading causes of death in Taiwan. According to previous literatures, the incidence of cancer increases year by year which may be related to environmental deterioration and lifestyle changes as a result of development in technology. However, the survival rate of the cancer patients has risen gradually. It is hypothesized that the rise in cancer survival rates may be because of some controllable environmental and lifestyle risk factors along with early diagnosis and advancement in cancer therapies. In this study, we search the database in the period from 1985 to 2008 of the insurance claims submitted by the provider hospitals to the Bureau of Health Promotion in the Department of Health of the Executive Yuan in Taiwan. There are a total of 1178 registered hospital files of cases of cancer that crosslink to major illness and deaths to look for potential environmental risk factors. Through survival analysis, the prognostic factors that affect survival rates are evaluated further. Then, research materials for a retrospective cohort study is gathered based on medical records in a regional teaching hospital in Taichung area and analyzed for any relevant factors in the survival period of the patients diagnosed with cancer. The criteria for evaluations, under genes and lifestyles, include multi-variable factors of sex, blood type, age of onset, cancer type, histology, birth place, family members living together, treatment, the final causes of death, etc. By analyzing the information collected, we discuss the correlation between survival and variables. We use non-conditional multivariate, ANOVA analysis for the significance of the relevant variables. Moreover, we use T-test to test whether the average number in different cancer is equal. Furthermore, we use survival analysis (Cox proportional hazards model) for the influence of the environmental factors associated with patient outcome of death.