Impact of Insurance Coverage on Outcomes in Primary Breast Sarcoma

Table 3

Baseline treatment characteristics by insurance coverage type.

Treatment Characteristics	Private	Medicaid	Medicare
	No. (%)	No. (%)	No. (%)	P^a
Total	323 (53.2%)	67 (11.0%)	217 (35.7%)	—
Primary surgical procedure				<0.001
No surgery	22 (6.8%)	<11	26 (12.0%)	—
BCS	111 (34.4%)	16 (23.9%)	49 (22.6%)	—
Mastectomy without reconstruction	124 (38.4%)	27 (40.3%)	91 (41.9%)	—
Mastectomy with reconstruction	32 (9.9%)	<11	<11	—
Mastectomy NOS	32 (9.9%)	19 (28.4%)	≥11	—
Surgical margins				0.217
Negative	272 (84.2%)	58 (86.6%)	171 (78.8%)	—
Positive^b	18 (5.6%)	<11	13 (6.0%)	—
NA/unknown	33 (10.2%)	<11	33 (15.2%)	—
Receipt of RT				0.004
No	188 (58.2%)	33 (49.3%)	150 (69.1%)	—
Yes	131 (40.6%)	31 (46.3%)	66 (30.4%)	—
Receipt of chemotherapy				0.021
No	221 (68.4%)	43 (64.2%)	173 (79.7%)	—
Yes	94 (29.1%)	23 (34.3%)	39 (18.0%)	—
Treatment				<0.001
No definitive tx	12 (3.7%)	<11	17 (7.8%)	—
Surgery alone	124 (38.4%)	22 (32.8%)	112 (51.6%)	—
Surgery and RT	126 (39.0%)	31 (46.3%)	60 (27.6%)	—
Other^c	61 (18.9%)	≥11	28 (12.9%)	—
	Median (IQR)	Median (IQR)	Median (IQR)	P^d
Days from diagnosis to surgery	15.0 (0.0, 33.0)	27.5 (8.0, 44.0)	19.0 (0.0, 35.0)	0.017

In order to protect patient identity, some categories are combined, unknown categories with few patients are not shown, and cells with fewer than 11 patients are hidden; ^aPearson’s chi-squared value; ^bincludes residual tumor that is microscopic, macroscopic, and not otherwise specified; ^cincludes patients who received chemotherapy alone (n = 76), RT alone (n < 11), chemotherapy and RT (n < 11), and unknown (n = 16); ^dKruskal–Wallis value; abbreviations: BCS, breast-conserving surgery; NOS, not otherwise specified; NA, not applicable; RT, radiation therapy; tx, treatment; IQR, interquartile range.