Making cancer treatment visible boosts adherence to medical guidelines
Swedish doctors dramatically improved their compliance with prostate cancer treatment standards after the country started publicly reporting their performance data. Active surveillance for low-risk cases jumped from 44% to 88% over 13 years, suggesting that transparency and accountability mechanisms can reshape clinical practice more effectively than guidelines alone.
Originaltitel: Improved adherence to prostate cancer guidelines concomitant with public reporting. Nationwide population-based study
<p>Background: Swedish national guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for standard of care; however, little is known about adherence to them. The aim of this study was to assess adherence to management guidelines for prostate cancer (PCa).</p><p>Materials and methods: Data in the National Prostate Cancer Register (NPCR), that includes 98% of all incident PCa cases in Sweden, were used to analyse adherence to national PCa guidelines for men diagnosed between 2010 and 2023. A selection of quality indicators displayed on the public web page of NPCR were assessed.</p><p>Results: Active surveillance in men with low-risk PCa and an estimated life expectancy >10 years increased from 44% in 2010 to 88% in 2023. Radical treatment for men with localised high-risk PCa and life expectancy >10 years increased from 60% in 2010 to 86% in 2023 and for men with locally advanced PCa and life expectancy >5 years from 37% in 2010 to 64% in 2023. The proportion of radical prostatectomies for low- or intermediate-risk PCa performed with nerve-sparing technique increased from 61% in 2015 to 87% in 2023. Use of adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy after radiotherapy for men with high-risk or locally advanced PCa increased five-fold from 14% in 2010 to 73% in 2022.</p><p>Conclusion: Adherence to recommendations in national guidelines improved in Sweden between 2010 and 2023. Public, open reporting of NPCR data on adherence to guidelines down to department level is likely to have contributed to these improvements.</p>