The role of sex in the outcomes of patients with biliary tract cancers remains unclear: A population-based study.

BACKGROUND:Differences in outcomes between males and females with biliary tract cancer (BTC) has been previously reported but not studied. METHODS:This was a population-based retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing BTC resection in Ontario between 2002 and 2012. Descriptive statistics on patient, disease, and treatment-related factors in each BTC subtype were reported. Kaplan Meier Curves and Cox Proportional Hazards analysis were used to examine the univariate relationship between sex and overall survival. RESULTS:714 patients underwent resection of a BTC. Kaplan Meier Curves shows trends towards different survival for males and females in different BTC subtypes: improved for females with intrahepatic and ampullary cancers and poorer survival for females with perhilar and distal cholangiocarcinomas. These trends were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS:Sex may be an important factor in overall survival following resection of BTC. Further work is needed to better characterize the relationship between sex and outcomes of BTC.