Differences in Patient Characteristics among Men Choosing Open or Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy in Contemporary Practice - Analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database.

OBJECTIVE To examine characteristics of robot-assisted (RARP) and open radical prostatectomy (ORP) patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS We relied on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare-linked database and focused on prostate cancer patients between 2008 and 2009. In multivariable logistic regression analyses, we predicted RARP. RESULTS Of 5,915 patients, 3,476 (58.8%) underwent RARP and 2,439 (41.2%) ORP. Patients within intermediate (OR 1.4, p = 0.01) or highest (OR 1.5, p = 0.02) education strata and those treated by surgeons with a high volume (OR 2.2, p < 0.001) were more likely to undergo RARP. Conversely, those residing in rural areas (OR 0.7, p = 0.005) and those with clinical stage T2 or higher (OR 0.7, p = 0.006) were less likely to undergo RARP. Additionally, patients from the Southwest were less likely to undergo RARP (OR 0.4, p < 0.001), but those from the Northern Plains were more likely to undergo RARP (OR 1.4, p = 0.02) than their counterparts from the East. Finally, RARP patients were neither younger nor healthier than ORP patients. CONCLUSIONS Several patient characteristics such as education, region of residence and population density affect the likelihood of RARP vs. ORP treatment. Similarly, clinical stage and surgeon characteristics also affect the assignment to one or other treatment modality.