Background: Chile has the highest gallbladder cancer (GBC) death rate world-wide, affecting mainly Southern areas of the country.
Aim: To compare the survival of GBC patients treated in hospitals located in areas with low and high risk for GBC.
Material and methods: Medical records of all patients with GBC admitted to one public hospital located in southern Chile, a public hospital and a private clinic, both located in Metropolitan Santiago, were reviewed. Cases were analyzed by age, sex, stage at diagnosis, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES) and rural residence. Survival was calculated using Kaplan Meier method.
Results: A total of 598 cases (469 women), were analyzed. No differences in age or sex among hospitals were detected. At the moment of diagnosis, 75, 50 and 44% of cases from the hospital in southern Chile, the public hospital in Santiago and the private clinic in Santiago, were in stage IV, respectively. Five years survival was lower in the public hospital in southern Chile than in the public hospital in Santiago (10.7 and 14.4% respectively, p < 0.05) but not statistically different from the figure at the private clinic in Santiago (13.0%). However, when adjusting for stage at the moment of diagnosis, no difference in survival between the three hospitals, was found. The median days of survival were 1,559, 188, 70 and 69 for stages I, II, III and IV respectively.
Conclusions: GBC mortality is high. The stage at the moment of diagnosis is only significant predictor of survival.