Factors That Influence Selection of Urinary Diversion Among Bladder Cancer Patients in 3 Community-based Integrated Health Care Systems

OBJECTIVE To assess the relative contributions of patient and surgeon factors for predicting selection of ileal conduit (IC), neobladder (NB), or continent pouch (CP) urinary diversions (UD) for patients diagnosed with muscle-invasive/high-risk nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer. This information is needed to enhance research comparing cancer survivors' outcomes across different surgical treatment options. METHODS Bladder cancer patients' age >= 21 years with cystectomy/UD performed from January 2010 to June 2015 in 3 Kaiser Permanente regions were included. All patient and surgeon data were obtained from electronic health records. A mixed effects logistic regression model was used treating surgeon as a random effect and region as a fixed effect. RESULTS Of 991 eligible patients, 794 (80%) received IC. One hundred sixty-nine surgeons performed the surgeries and accounted for a sizeable proportion of the variability in patient receipt of UD (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.26). The multilevel model with only patient factors showed good fit (area under the curve = 0.93, Hosmer-Lemeshow test P =.44), and older age, female sex, estimated glomerular filtration rate <45, 4+ comorbidity index score, and stage III/IV tumors were associated with higher odds of receiving an IC vs neobladder/continent pouch. However, including surgeon factors (annual cystectomy volume, specialty training, clinical tenure) had no association (P =.29). CONCLUSION In this community setting, patient factors were major predictors of UD received. Surgeons also played a substantial role, yet clinical training and experience were not major predictors. Surgeon factors such as beliefs about UD options and outcomes should be explored. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc.