When combined, liver and stomach cancers are second only to lung cancer as the most common causes of cancer death for the indigenous Māori population of New Zealand-with Māori also experiencing substantial disparities in the likelihood of survival once diagnosed with these cancers. Since a key driver of this disparity in survival could be access to surgical treatment, we have used national-level data to examine surgical procedures performed on Māori patients with liver and stomach cancers and compared the likelihood and timing of access with the majority European population.
We examined all cases of liver and stomach cancers diagnosed during 2007-2019 on the New Zealand Cancer Registry (liver cancer: 866 Māori, 2460 European; stomach cancer: 953 Māori, 3192 European) and linked these cases to all inpatient hospitalisations that occurred over this time to identify curative and palliative surgical procedures. As well as descriptive analysis, we compared the likelihood of access to a given procedure between Māori and Europeans, stratified by cancer and adjusted for confounding and mediating factors. Finally, we compared the timing of access to a given procedure between ethnic groups.
We found that (a) access to liver transplant for Māori is lower than for Europeans; (b) Māori with stomach cancer appear more likely to require the type of palliation consistent with gastric outlet obstruction; and (c) differential timing of first stomach cancer surgery between Māori and European patients. However, we may also be cautiously encouraged by the fact that differences in overall access to curative surgical treatment were either marginal (liver) or absent (stomach).
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 May 2022.
All research outputs
#15,106,315
of 25,392,582 outputs
Outputs from BMJ Open
#15,991
of 25,598 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#204,445
of 446,050 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMJ Open
#587
of 1,055 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,392,582 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 40th percentile – i.e., 40% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 25,598 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 18.2. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 446,050 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 53% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 1,055 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
