Choice of therapy and time to first treatment for patients with colon cancer: A National Cancer Database analysis.

e14642 Background: Insurance status has been shown to affect adherence to guidelines in the treatment of colon cancer1. This study aims to investigate trends in management of colon cancer and time to first treatment in patients with various insurance types using the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Methods: Treatment data for 845,121 patients and time to first treatment data for 497,993 patients diagnosed with colon cancer between 2000 and 2010 were identified using the NCDB. Reported utilization of treatment and time to first treatment were analyzed by insurance status. Results: Among all stages of colon cancer, no treatment was received more often by Veteran Affairs (10.5%) and Medicare (10.9%) patients than uninsured (8.8%), managed care (4.5%), private insurance (4.7%), Medicaid (8.4%) or Medicare with supplement (7.7%). Among stage I colon cancer, surgery was received less often by uninsured (90.9%) than other insurance types. Stage III colon cancer patients enrolled in Medicare with/without suppleme...