Impact of rural/urban residence on relative survival (RS) in patients with kidney cancer: An analysis of 14576 patients from the Austrian National Cancer Registry (ANCR).

491Background: Access to medical diagnostics and treatment might be limited for patients living in rural areas compared to urban residents. To evaluate the potential impact of urban/rural residence, we analyzed trends in RS for patients diagnosed with kidney cancer between 1998 and 2009 in Austria. Methods: All patients with kidney cancer aged ≥18 years, diagnosed from 1998-2009 were derived from the ANCR (n=14,576). Patients were categorized into two groups: rural (n=7,537) and urban (n=7,039) based on a complex algorithm considering infrastructure, commuter interrelations, accessibility of centers, and tourism at the time of diagnosis. Relative survival was calculated based on complete follow-up until December 31st, 2014. Poisson regression modeling was used to evaluate survival differences between the two groups and to calculate the relative excess risk of dying (RER). Analyses were performed for the total patient population and primary metastatic patients (M+). Results: Distribution of sex, age, stage...