Table 1 Baseline Characteristics and Univariate Predictors of Palliative RT Among Patients with NSCLC in Puerto Rico

All patients

929 (100.0)

615 (66.20)

314 (33.80)

Age group (years)

0.011

 21–59

258 (27.77)

155 (60.08)

103 (39.92)

 60–74

452 (48.65)

300 (66.37)

152 (33.63)

 75+

219 (23.57)

160 (73.06)

59 (26.94)

Sex

0.732

 Male

552 (59.42)

363 (65.76)

189 (34.24)

 Female

377 (40.58)

252 (66.84)

125 (33.16)

Marital Status

0.596

 Unmarried

396 (42.63)

269 (67.93)

127 (32.07)

 Married

508 (54.68)

329 (64.76)

179 (35.24)

 Unknown

25 (2.69)

17 (68.00)

8 (32.00)

Health Insurance

< 0.0001

 Medicaid

290 (31.22)

208 (71.72)

82 (28.28)

 Medicare

201 (21.64)

124 (61.69)

77 (38.31)

 Medicare-Medicaid

234 (25.19)

170 (77.65)

64 (27.35)

 Private

204 (21.96)

113 (55.39)

91 (44.61)

Density of RT Centers

0.400

 Low (0–2)

71 (7.64)

49 (69.01)

22 (30.99)

 Medium (3–6)

605 (65.12)

407 (67.27)

198 (32.73)

 High (7+)

253 (27.23)

159 (62.85)

94 (37.15)

Geographic Location

0.163

 Metro Area

894 (96.23)

588 (65.77)

306 (34.23)

 Non-Metro Area

35 (3.77)

27 (77.14)

8 (33.80)

Surgery

0.249

 No

847 (91.17)

556 (65.64)

291 (34.36)

 Yes

82 (8.83)

59 (71.95)

23 (28.05)

Chemotherapy

< 0.0001

 No

488 (52.53)

397 (81.35)

91 (18.65)

 Yes

441 (47.47)

218 (49.43)

223 (50.57)

Year of Diagnosis

 2009

107 (11.52)

70 (65.42)

37 (34.58)

0.997

 2010

85 (9.15)

55 (64.71)

30 (35.29)

 2011

121 (13.02)

82 (67.77)

39 (32.23)

 2012

151 (16.25)

102 (67.55)

49 (32.45)

 2013

156 (16.79)

101 (64.74)

55 (35.26)

 2014

148 (15.93)

99 (66.89)

49 (33.11)

 2015

161 (17.33)

106 (65.84)

55 (34.16)

Symptoms

< 0.0001

 No

319 (34.34)

239 (74.92)

80 (25.08)

 Yes

610 (65.66)

376 (64.64)

234 (38.36)

Comorbidity

0.462

 0

618 (66.52)

406 (65.70)

212 (34.30)

 1

153 (16.47)

98 (64.05)

55 (35.95)

 2+

158 (17.01)

111 (70.25)

47 (29.75)