Work

Epithelial ovarian cancer survival by race and ethnicity in an equal-access healthcare population

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Previous studies in the general population observed that compared with non-Hispanic White women, Pacific Islander and Black women have higher age-adjusted mortality rates from epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), while Asian American patients have lower mortality. We investigated whether race and ethnicity is associated with differences in EOC survival in a United States Military population where patients have equal access to healthcare. METHODS: This retrospective study included women diagnosed with EOC between 2001 and 2018 among Department of Defense beneficiaries. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusting for age and year of diagnosis, histology and stage. RESULTS: In our study population of 1230 invasive EOC cases (558 non-Hispanic White, 74 non-Hispanic Black, 73 Asian, 30 Pacific Islander and 36 Hispanic cases), 63% of the women died (all-cause death) after a mean = 4.8 years (SD = 4.1) of follow-up following diagnosis. Compared with non-Hispanic White cases, Asian cases had better overall survival, HR = 0.76 (95% CI = 0.58-0.98), whereas there were no differences in survival for other racial and ethnic groups. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the need to investigate how differences in access to healthcare may influence observed racial and ethnic disparities for EOC.

Source: British Journal of Cancer

DOI: 10.1038/s41416-023-02471-z

Authors: Zhaohui L. Arter, Daniel Desmond, Jeffrey L. Berenberg, Jeffrey L. Killeen, Kristen Bunch, Melissa A. Merritt