Ta, Jason

e23223 Background: Early-stage lung cancer is potentially curable with surgery, yet emergency or nonelective presentation represents a care-delivery phenotype reflecting failures in early diagnosis or access to care rather than tumor biology alone. The national impact of emergency presentation among surgically treated, presumed early-stage lung cancer patients is poorly defined. This study evaluates emergency versus elective presentation as a care-delivery phenotype and its association with perioperative morbidity, failure-to-rescue, and inpatient outcomes. Methods: A survey-weighted analysis of the National Inpatient Sample (2016–2023) was conducted. Adult lung cancer hospitalizations were identified using ICD-10-CM C34* in any diagnosis position. A presumed early-stage surgical cohort was defined by curative-intent lung resection without metastatic disease, malignant pleural effusion, or palliative care coding. The primary exposure was nonelective versus elective admission. Outcomes included in-hospital mortality; ICU-level care, defined by invasive mechanical ventilation, shock, or respiratory failure; major complications; failure-to-rescue; length of stay; and hospitalization cost and charges. Multivariable survey-weighted models adjusted for patient demographics, payer, neighborhood income, hospital characteristics, and year. Results: In the weighted cohort of 422,925 hospitalizations, nonelective admission occurred in 27.3%. After multivariable adjustment, nonelective admission was independently associated with higher odds of in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.59, 95% CI 2.22–3.03), ICU-level care (aOR 4.53, 95% CI 4.32–4.76), and major complications (aOR 5.00, 95% CI 4.78–5.23), as well as longer length of stay (+2.42 days). Notably, failure-to-rescue among patients with major complications did not differ by admission type (aOR 0.90, 95% CI 0.77–1.05), indicating that excess mortality associated with nonelective presentation is driven by presentation severity and care pathway rather than differences in rescue quality. In unadjusted analyses, nonelective presentation was associated with higher mortality (2.21% vs 0.68%), greater ICU-level care use (33.8% vs 8.9%), more frequent major complications (45.0% vs 12.4%), and longer length of stay (7.84 vs 4.99 days) compared with elective admissions. Conclusions: In a procedure-defined, presumed early-stage lung cancer surgical cohort, nonelective admission identifies a common care-delivery failure phenotype associated with higher perioperative morbidity, ICU-level care, in-hospital mortality, and longer hospitalization. Emergency presentation represents a systems-level vulnerability in curative-intent lung cancer care and serves as a scalable and actionable marker for quality improvement and disparity-focused analyses.

e23193 Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is typically treated with outpatient systemic therapy; inpatient chemotherapy during acute hospitalization represents a high-risk care-delivery phenotype driven by delayed diagnosis, access barriers, or acute clinical decompensation rather than tumor biology alone. National data describing this care pathway and its inpatient outcomes remain limited. Methods: The U.S. National Inpatient Sample (2016–2023) was analyzed using survey weights. Adult hospitalizations meeting an ICD-10–based proxy definition for small cell lung cancer, defined by lung cancer diagnoses combined with neuroendocrine malignancy codes and excluding palliative care admissions, were identified. Inpatient chemotherapy was defined using ICD-10-PCS administration codes with prespecified sensitivity definitions. Outcomes included in-hospital mortality (primary), ICU-level care, sepsis, acute kidney injury, length of stay, hospitalization costs, and routine discharge. Multivariable survey-weighted logistic regression adjusted for patient demographics, payer, admission characteristics, and hospital factors. Results: The analytic cohort included 2,507 unweighted hospitalizations, representing 12,535 nationally weighted admissions. In multivariable analyses adjusting for demographics, payer, admission characteristics, and hospital factors, inpatient chemotherapy was independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.31, 95% CI 1.48–3.60) and greater ICU-level care (aOR 2.80, 95% CI 1.86–4.23). These associations were consistent across prespecified sensitivity analyses. In unadjusted analyses, inpatient chemotherapy occurred in 12.3%–19.3% of admissions annually from 2016–2023 and was associated with higher mortality (8.7% vs 5.2%), greater ICU-level care (11.8% vs 4.9%), longer length of stay (11.6 vs 7.0 days), higher costs ($38,446 vs $23,746), and lower routine discharge rates (42.8% vs 48.4%). Among 400 admissions with procedure-day data, chemotherapy was administered a mean of 3–5 days after admission. Late inpatient chemotherapy (day ≥2) was associated with higher mortality (10.6% vs 5.6%), greater ICU-level care (14.8% vs 9.2%), longer hospitalization (14.1 vs 8.0 days), and higher costs ($46,203 vs $28,025) compared with early chemotherapy (day 0–1), supporting inpatient chemotherapy as a marker of late care escalation rather than planned inpatient treatment. Conclusions: Inpatient chemotherapy identifies a high-risk care-delivery phenotype in hospitalized small cell lung cancer, with higher mortality, greater ICU-level care, and increased resource use, supporting its role as a marker of late care escalation or system-level barriers and a scalable quality indicator.