Association of Rural Residence and Receipt of Guideline-Concordant Care for Locoregional Colon Cancer

Background: Incidence and mortality rates of colon cancer (CC) are higher in rural populations. This study aimed to determine whether rural residence is associated with differences in guideline-concordant care for patients with locoregional CC. Methods: Patients with stages I–III CC from 2006 to 2016 were identified in the National Cancer Database. Guideline-concordant care (GCC) was defined as resection with negative margins, adequate nodal harvest, and receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with high-risk stage II or III disease. Multivariable logistic regression (MVR) was performed to evaluate the association between rural residence and the odds of receiving GCC. Effect modification was evaluated using a two-way interaction for rurality by insurance status. Results: Of 320,719 identified patients, 6191 (2%) were rural. The rural patients had lower income and lower educational status than the urban patients and were more often Medicare-insured (p < 0.001). The rural patients traveled farther (44.5 vs. 7.5 miles; p < 0.001), although time to surgery was similar (8 vs. 9 days). The two cohorts had similar resection rates (98.8% vs. 98.0%), margin positivity (5.4% vs. 4.8%), adequate lymphadenectomy (80.9% vs. 83.0%), adjuvant chemotherapy (stage III: 69.2% vs. 68.7%), and receipt of GCC (66.5% vs. 68.3%). In the MVR, the odds of receiving GCC did not differ between the rural and urban patients (odds ratio, 0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.94–1.05%). Insurance status did not differentially influence the receipt of GCC by the rural versus the urban patients (interaction: p = 0.83). Conclusions: Rural and urban patients with locoregional CC are equally likely to receive GCC, suggesting that differences in cancer care delivery may not explain rural-urban disparities.