Length of Stay After Lung Cancer Surgery Longer With Wildfire in County of Treating Facility

FRIDAY, March 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Patients with non-small cell lung cancer undergoing lobectomy or pneumonectomy whose treatment facility was in a U.S. county impacted by a wildfire disaster during recovery had a longer length of stay (LOS), according to a study published online March 11 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Leticia M. Nogueira, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, and colleagues selected individuals aged 18 years and older who received curative-intent lobectomy or pneumonectomy for stage I to III non-small cell lung cancer between 2004 and 2021. Differences in the cumulative distribution function of LOS were assessed between those exposed to a Federal Emergency Management Agency wildfire Presidential Disaster Declaration in the county of the treating facility between date of surgery and date of discharge from the hospital and propensity score-matched unexposed patients treated at the same facility (535 and 535 patients).

The researchers found that exposed patients had significantly longer LOS than unexposed patients (9.4 versus 7.5 days) overall and for each stage (I to III) for which surgery is the recommended modality of treatment.

“These findings underscore the importance of developing specific disaster preparedness and response guidelines for specific patient populations and incorporating contextual factors in health care quality measures tied to clinician and facility payments, such as shorter LOS,” the authors write.

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