Table 4

Multivariable analysis by multilevel logistic regression; factors associated with a delay in time-to-treatment

Factor	OR	95% CI	P value
Stage III (N=5038), treatment delay (>35 days)
Age at diagnosis (years)
61–70 vs 18–60	1.17	0.99 to 1.36	0.0548
71–80 vs 18–60	1.52	1.29 to 1.80	<0.0001
80+ vs 18–60	1.57	1.23 to 2.02	0.0004
History of other cancer
Yes vs no	1.53	1.23 to 1.91	0.0003
Performance status
1 vs 0	1.14	0.97 to 1.35	0.1124
2 vs 0	1.11	0.86 to 1.43	0.4305
3+4 vs 0	0.62	0.41 to 0.93	0.0223
Missing vs 0	1.01	0.85 to 1.20	0.8864
EUS
Yes vs no	1.39	1.16 to 1.66	0.0005
EBUS
Yes vs no	1.81	1.58 to 2.07	<0.0001
Explorative surgery
Yes vs no	10.92	4.02 to 29.7	<0.0001
Transthoracic biopsy
Yes vs no	2.24	1.72 to 2.90	<0.0001
Unknown vs no	0.91	0.79 to 1.05	0.2002
Type of therapy
Radiotherapy vs chemoradiotherapy	2.34	1.99 to 2.74	<0.0001
Systemic therapy vs chemoradiotherapy	1.58	1.34 to 1.86	<0.0001
Stage IV (N=5268), treatment delay (>35 days)
Age at diagnosis (years)
61–70 vs 18–60	1.16	1.01 to 1.34	0.0363
71–80 vs 18–60	1.44	1.23 to 1.67	<0.0001
80+ vs 18–60	1.79	1.32 to 2.42	0.0002
Performance status
1 vs 0	1.07	0.92 to 1.25	0.3745
2 vs 0	0.84	0.66 to 1.07	0.1539
3+4 vs 0	0.87	0.53 to 1.43	0.5741
Missing vs 0	0.79	0.68 to 0.94	0.006
Distant metastasis
M1b/M1c vs M1a	0.80	0.71 to 0.91	0.0005
EUS
Yes vs no	1.49	1.22 to 1.82	0.0002
EBUS
Yes versus no	1.69	1.44 to 1.99	<0.0001
Explorative surgery
Yes versus no	8.16	2.94 to 22.7	0.0003
Transthoracic biopsy
Yes versus no	2.08	1.67 to 2.60	<0.0001
Unknown versus no	0.89	0.77 to 1.01	0.0778
Type of systemic therapy
Targeted therapy versus chemo/immunotherapy	0.78	0.68 to 0.89	0.0003

The hospitals accounted for approximately 8% of the variability in time-to-treatment for stage III (ICC: τ00=0.2815; z(5022)=4.70, p<0.0001) (Median OR _{lowest-highest}: 0.6–1.8) and 4% for stage IV (ICC: τ00=0.1462; z(5253)=4.04, p<0.0001) (Median OR _{lowest-highest}: 0.6–1.7).27
ORs that reached the level of significance are marked as bold.
EBUS, endobronchial ultrasound; EUS, endoscopic ultrasound; ICC, intraclass correlation coefficient.