Treatment Patterns of Invasive Neoplasms in the Brazilian Unified Health System from 2000 to 2019

Oliveira, Livia Costa de; Rosa, Karla Santos da Costa; Bergmann, Anke; Thuler, Luiz Claudio Santos

doi:10.32635/2176-9745.RBC.2025v71n4.5109

home Table of contents navigate_before previous current next navigate_next

Original Article • Rev. Bras. Cancerol. 71 (4) • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.32635/2176-9745.RBC.2025v71n4.5109EN linkcopy

Treatment Patterns of Invasive Neoplasms in the Brazilian Unified Health System from 2000 to 2019

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Different treatment modalities can be used to manage cancer.

Objective: To analyze the treatment patterns of patients diagnosed with the six most common types of invasive cancer in Brazil and treated in the Brazilian Unified Health System.

Method: This is a cross-sectional analysis using data extracted from the Integrated Module of Hospital Cancer Registries, including patients diagnosed with female breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, stomach, and cervical cancer from 2000 to 2019. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test and effect size.

Results: Data from 1,204,222 patients were included. Surgery was the most frequent treatment in cases diagnosed at an early stage, particularly for prostate (87.5%) and colorectal cancer (56.1%). For advanced-stage cancers, chemotherapy predominated, especially for lung (88.2%) and breast cancer (48.3%). Clinical staging at diagnosis was the primary determinant of therapeutic decision-making, particularly regarding surgery and chemotherapy. Variables such as age, education level, skin color, geographic region, and the accreditation level of oncology services significantly influenced treatment patterns.

Conclusion: The advanced stage of cancer at diagnosis was the primary factor determining the type of treatment received. Sociodemographic inequalities also influenced access to different therapeutic options.

Key words:
Neoplasms/diagnosis; Epidemiology; Unified Health System; Antineoplastic Protocols

Step	Variables considered	Classification criteria
1	Missing data were corrected following the Classification of Malign Tumors	T1 and T2 = initial stage
1		T3 and T4 = advanced stage
2	The remaining missing data after step 1 were corrected according to the main reason for not getting treatment	Advanced disease, inability to treat, or other associated diseases = advanced stage
3	The remaining missing data after step 2 were corrected according to the main treatment received at the hospital	Surgery = initial stage
3		Chemotherapy = advanced stage
4	The remaining missing data after step 3 were corrected according to the disease staging at the end of the first treatmenta	Death = advanced stage
5	The remaining missing data after step 4 were corrected according to the main reason for not getting treatment	Death = advanced stage

Treatment	Types of invasive cancer
Treatment	Breast	Prostate	Colorectal	Lung	Stomach	Cervix	Total
Surgery
Yes	230,228	130,992	108,308	23,969	55,954	62,346	549,451
Yes	(62.5%)	(43.4%)	(60.3%)	(22.7%)	(62.1%)	(39.1%)
No	137,932	170,640	71,156	81,493	34,222	96,982	592,425
No	(37.5%)	(56.6%)	(39.7%)	(77.3%)	(37.9%)	(60.9%)
Chemotherapy
Yes	99,315	17,051	42,682	47,814	26,123	21,931	254,916
Yes	(27.0%)	(5.6%)	(23.8%)	(45.3%)	(29.0%)	(13.8%)
No	268,845	284,581	136,782	57,648	64,053	137,397	949,306
No	(73.0%)	(94.4%)	(76.2%)	(45.3%)	(71.0%)	(86.2%)
Radiotherapy
Yes	23,464	23,464	25,583	29,893	5,348	72,460	150,319
Yes	(6.4%)	(6.4%)	(14.3%)	(28.3%)	(5.9%)	(45.5%)
No	344,696	344,696	153,881	75,569	84,828	86,868	1,090,538
No	(93.6%)	(93.6%)	(85.7%)	(71.7%)	(94.1%)	(54.5%)

vertical_align_top show_chart

more_horiz close
- image
- translate
- link
- article
- vertical_align_top
- file_download
- show_chart
- image
- translate
- link
- article

location_on

Instituto Nacional de Câncer Rua Marquês de Pombal, 125 - 2º andar, Centro , CEP 20230-240, Tel.: +55 21 3207-6132 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: rbc@inca.gov.br

rss_feed Stay informed of issues for this journal through your RSS reader

[1] Nota:

[TFN2] ^a
For the State of São Paulo, step 4 was not conducted as there were no records of this variable in the consulted database.