Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in colon adenocarcinomas on a population basis and determine which factors could modulate its prescription.
Methods: The influence of time of diagnosis, age, sex, place of residence, health care pattern, tumor location and number of metastatic lymph nodes was investigated from the 1988 to 1995 data from the Registry of Digestive Cancers in Côte-d'Or (France). Each independent variable was given an odds-ratio (OR).
Results: An adjuvant chemotherapy was performed for 0.9% of 231 Dukes'A cancers, 3.8% of 367 Dukes'B and 16.7% of 264 Dukes'C. For the latter, the prescription of adjuvant chemotherapy was influenced by time of diagnosis (from 1.3% in 1988-89 to 35.8% in 1994-95; OR = 228 for period 1994-95 compared with the first period), age (the proportion of treated patients under 75 years of age has increased from 2.2% in 1988-89 to 57.9% in 1994-95; OR = 30.1 for patients younger than 75 years compared with older ones) and health care pattern (OR = 0.21 for treatment in non university hospitals and 0.06 in the private sector compared with university hospitals.
Conclusion: In spite of an increasing proportion of patients treated by adjuvant chemotherapy for Dukes'C colon cancers, this treatment of proved effectiveness has not yet reached its full development.