Disparities in esophageal cancer care based on race: a National Cancer Database analysis

Author(s):  
Ikenna C Okereke ◽  
Jordan Westra ◽  
Douglas Tyler ◽  
Suzanne Klimberg ◽  
Daniel Jupiter ◽  
...  

Summary Esophageal cancer is one of the most common cancer killers in our country. The effects of racial disparities on care for esophageal cancer patients are incompletely understood. Using the National Cancer Database, we investigated racial disparities in treatment and outcome of esophageal cancer patients. The National Cancer Database was queried from 2004 to 2017. Logistic regression and survival analysis were used to determine racial differences in access, treatment and outcome. A total of 127,098 patients were included. All minority groups were more likely to be diagnosed at advanced stages versus Caucasians after adjusting for covariates (African American OR—1.64 [95% confidence interval 1.53—1.76], Hispanic OR—1.19 [1.08—1.32], Asian OR—1.78 [1.55—2.06]). After adjustment, all minorities were less likely at every stage to receive surgery. Despite these disparities, Hispanics and Asians had improved survival compared with Caucasians. African Americans had worse survival. Racial disparities for receiving surgery were present in both academic and community institutions, and at high-volume and low-volume institutions. Surgery partially mediated the survival difference between African Americans and Caucasians (HR—1.13 [1.10–1.16] and HR—1.04 [1.02–1.07], without and with adjustment of surgery).There are racial disparities in the treatment of esophageal cancer. Despite these disparities, Hispanics and Asians have improved overall survival versus Caucasians. African Americans have the worst overall survival. Racial disparities likely affect outcome in esophageal cancer. But other factors, such as epigenetics and tumor biology, may correlate more strongly with outcome for patients with esophageal cancer.

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J. Dudash ◽  
Sasha Slipak ◽  
James Dove ◽  
Marie Hunsinger ◽  
Jeffrey Wild ◽  
...  

Surgical therapy for esophageal cancer is the cornerstone of treatment, and the highest quality operation should lead to the highest cure rate. Evaluated lymph node (ELN) count is one quality measure that has been championed. The objective of this study was to explore ELN in esophagectomy, examine predictors of harvesting ≥12 nodes, and determine whether higher ELN improves overall survival (OS). ELN was examined in patients with resected esophageal cancer using the National Cancer Database from 2004 to 2013. In this study, 41,746 patients met the inclusion criteria. Fifty-two per cent of patients had 12 or more nodes harvested. Academic programs were most likely to harvest ≥12 nodes (58% of cases) compared with other programs (43–56% of cases). Seventy per cent of cases with ≥12 nodes harvested were performed at high-volume centers. Preoperative radiation or preoperative chemoradiation led to lower ELN (46% and 48%) versus preoperative chemotherapy alone (66%). Multivariate analysis showed that patients who had ≥12 nodes removed had better OS (Hazard Ratio 0.843 [95 confidence interval 0.820–0.867]). In addition, care at a high-volume facility, care at an academic facility, private insurance, and income ≥$63,000 were all associated with improved OS. Higher ELN count is associated with OS in patients with esophageal cancer. Patients who receive care at high-volume centers and academic centers are more likely to undergo more extensive lymphadenectomy. All centers should strive to examine at least 12 nodes to provide a quality esophagectomy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e16589-e16589
Author(s):  
Meena Sadaps ◽  
Neal Mehta ◽  
Ran Zhao ◽  
Wei Wei ◽  
Amit Bhatt ◽  
...  

e16589 Background: Significant racial disparities exist in the patterns of care and clinical outcomes for patients with early stage, non-metastatic esophageal cancer but data in advanced esophageal cancer are lacking. In this study, we aim to evaluate racial disparities in patients with locally advanced/metastatic, unresectable esophageal cancers. Methods: We identified patients in the National Cancer Database with esophageal cancer, from 2004 to 2016, with unresectable stage III/IV disease at time of diagnosis. We compared overall survival (OS) between different racial groups as well as other demographic and socioeconomic factors that may have contributed to this disparity. Secondary factors that were studied included age, sex, education, histology, and location of tumor. Results: 49,139 patients were included in this analysis. Median age was 64.5 years and 39,314 (80.0%) were male. 16,723 (34.0%) patients had stage III disease and 32,416 (66.0%) patients had stage IV disease. 16,208 patients (33.0%) had squamous cell carcinoma and 32,931 (67.0%) had adenocarcinoma. Patients were stratified into one of the following six categories for race: Caucasian (40,139; 81.7%), African American (5,571; 11.3%), Asian (907; 1.8%), Hispanic/Latino (1,793; 3.6%), Native American (145; 0.3%), and other (167; 0.3%). African Americans had worse median OS (Table) than Asians (p = 0.000), Hispanic/Latinos (p = 0.000), and Caucasians (p = 0.001) when analyzed in a pairwise comparison using log-rank testing. Within the African American subset, older age ( > 70 years) (p = 0.00), male gender (p = 0.00), and tumor location in the mid (p = 0.02) or upper third (p = 0.00) of the esophagus were associated with worse outcomes using Cox’s multivariate regression model. Conclusions: Racial disparities persist even in unresectable stage III/IV esophageal cancer patients with African Americans noted to have worse clinical outcomes as compared to most other races including Caucasian, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino patients. Further research is warranted to determine the cause for this disparity and to implement the necessary changes to improve outcomes for these patients. [Table: see text]


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 2519-2519
Author(s):  
Wei Tse Li ◽  
Matthew Uzelac ◽  
Jaideep Chakladar ◽  
Lindsay M. Wong ◽  
Aditi Gnanasekar ◽  
...  

2519 Background: Microbiome composition can influence cancer development and is moderated by diet, hygiene, sanitation, and other environmental variables. For example, a Mediterranean diet could increase breast Lactobacillus abundance, while the gut microbiome changes dramatically with fructose intake. Recent studies have revealed correlations between microbial abundance and racial disparities in cancer. Given these reports, it is critical to examine whether environmental influences on the microbiome contribute to racial disparities in cancer incidence and prognosis. Methods: We examined the intra-tumoral microbiome in the lungs, breasts, bladder, colon, rectum, cervix, head and neck, prostate, and pancreas (n = 4,169). Raw tumor RNA sequencing data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and aligned to bacterial genomes. Microbial abundance was correlated to race, ethnicity, and prognostic variables (Kruskal-Wallis test or Cox regression, p< 0.05). Results: We identified several microbes correlated with racial disparities for breast and bladder cancer, two microbes for lung squamous cell carcinoma, and one microbe for colon cancer. For breast cancer, African Americans have the highest mortality rate, followed by white Americans and Asian Americans. We found that four microbes, all under the order Burkholderiales, were positively correlated with poor prognosis and were most abundant in African Americans and least abundant in Asian Americans. Therefore, increased abundance of these microbes may contribute to the observed mortality differences between races. For bladder cancer, Asian Americans have the lowest incidence and mortality rates. Seven microbes, including two Geobacillus, two Pseudomonas, and two Burkholderiales, positively correlate with good prognosis and are upregulated in Asian Americans. High Pseudomonas fluorescens abundance is positively correlated with decreased risk of death (HR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.38-0.85). High abundance of the Burkholderiales R. pickettii (HR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.42-0.92) and V. paradoxus (HR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.36-0.98) also exhibit the same trend. Geobacillus and Pseudomonas are both present in food, while Burkholderiales can cause nosocomial infections and are altered by diet. Conclusions: Our study is the most comprehensive to date investigating racial differences in the intra-tumoral microbiome. Our data serve as a starting point for exploring whether environmental influence of microbial abundance contributes to racial disparities in cancer.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwole M Adegbala ◽  
Akintunde Akinjero ◽  
Samson Alliu ◽  
Adeyinka C Adejumo ◽  
Emmanuel Akintoye ◽  
...  

Background: Although, in-hospital mortality from acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have declined in the United States recently, there is a gap in knowledge regarding racial differences in this trend. We sought to evaluate the effect of race on the trends in outcomes after Acute Myocardial Infarction among Medicaid patients in a nationwide cohort from 2007-2011 Methods: We extracted data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) for all hospitalizations between 2007 and 2011 for Medicaid patients aged 45 years or older with principal diagnosis of AMI using ICD-9-CM codes. Primary outcome of this study was all cause in-hospital mortality. We then stratified hospitalizations by racial groups; Whites, African Americans and Hispanics, and assessed the time trends of in-hospital mortality before and after multivariate analysis. Results: The overall mortality from AMI among Medicaid patients declined during the study period (8.80% in 2007 to 7.46% in 2011). In the adjusted models, compared to 2007, in-hospital mortality from AMI for Medicaid patients decreased across the 3 racial groups; Whites (aOR= 0.88, CI=0.70-0.99), African Americans (aOR=0.76, CI=0.57-1.01), Hispanics (aOR=0.87, CI=0.66-1.25). While the length of hospital stay declined significantly among African American and Hispanic with 2 days and 1.76 days decline respectively, the length of stay remained unchanged for Whites. There was non-significant increase in the incidence of stroke across the various racial groups; Whites (aOR= 1.23, CI=0.90 -1.69), African Americans (aOR=1.10, CI=0.73 -1.64), Hispanics (aOR=1.03, CI=0.68-1.55) when compared to 2007. Conclusion: In this study, we found that in-hospital mortality from AMI among Medicaid patients have declined across the racial groups. However, while the length of stay following AMI declined for African Americans and Hispanics with Medicaid insurance, it has remained unchanged for Whites. Future studies are necessary to identify determinants of these significant racial disparities in outcomes for AMI.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 159-160
Author(s):  
Flávio Sabino ◽  
Marco Guimaraes ◽  
Carlos Eduardo Pinto ◽  
Daniel Fernandes ◽  
Luis Felipe Pinto ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Surgical resection is considering the gold standard in esophageal cancer treatment, with 15–40% cure global rates. Radical exclusive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is used in patients with local advanced esophageal cancer or without clinical conditions for esophagectomy, with a 5-year overall survival up to 30%. However, locoregional control is poor with a 40–60% recurrence rate and salvage esophagectomy maybe an option for these patients. Methods Our objective is to report the experience of a single high volume oncological institution with salvage esophagectomy. Retrospective analysis of 28 patients medical records, with esophageal cancer, submitted to Salvage Esophagectomy in Brazilian NCI after radical exclusive CRT or RT between January 1990 and December 2015. Results Median age was 56 years and most are male (78,5%). Esophageal middle third was the tumor principal location (50%) and histological type was squamous cell carcinoma (82%). Thoracic approach for esophagectomy was the principal surgical technique, and gastric tube the most used conduit for reconstruction (78,5%). Surgery was R0 in 83% of the cases, with a surgical morbidity of 64%. Median hospital time was 15 days (8–58) and surgical mortality 14% (4 patients), with 7% in the first 30 days. Median overall survival was 22,3 months. Conclusion Our results are in line with published data in the literature. Besides surgical morbidity and mortality, Salvage Esophagectomy remains de only chance of cure for patients with locoregional recurrence after radical exclusive CRT. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Woestemeier ◽  
Katharina Harms-Effenberger ◽  
Karl-F. Karstens ◽  
Leonie Konczalla ◽  
Tarik Ghadban ◽  
...  

Introduction. Current modalities to predict tumor recurrence and survival in esophageal cancer are insufficient. Even in lymph node-negative patients, a locoregional and distant relapse is common. Hence, more precise staging methods are needed. So far, only the CellSearch system was used to detect circulating tumor cells (CTC) with clinical relevance in esophageal cancer patients. Studies analyzing different CTC detection assays using advanced enrichment techniques to potentially increase the sensitivity are missing. Methods. In this single-center, prospective study, peripheral blood samples from 90 esophageal cancer patients were obtained preoperatively and analyzed for the presence of CTCs by Magnetic Cell Separation (MACS) enrichment (combined anti-cytokeratin and anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecules (EpCAM)), with subsequent immunocytochemical staining. Data were correlated with clinicopathological parameters and patient outcomes. Results. CTCs were detected in 25.6% (23/90) of the patients by combined cytokeratin/EpCAM enrichment (0–150 CTCs/7.5 mL). No significant correlation between histopathological parameters and CTC detection was found. Survival analysis revealed that the presence of more than two CTCs correlated with significantly shorter overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Conclusion. With the use of cytokeratin as an additional enrichment target, the CTC detection rate in esophageal cancer patients can be elevated and displays the heterogeneity of cytokeratin (CK) and EpCAM expression. The presence of >2CTCs correlated with a shorter relapse-free and overall survival in a univariate analysis, but not in a multivariate setting. Moreover, our results suggest that the CK7/8+/EpCAM+ or CK7/8+/EpCAM− CTC subtype does not lead to an advanced tumor staging tool in non-metastatic esophageal cancer (EC) patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 392-392
Author(s):  
John David ◽  
Sungjin Kim ◽  
Erik Anderson ◽  
Arman Torossian ◽  
Simon Lo ◽  
...  

392 Background: Numerous studies have shown that treatment at a high volume facility (HVF) for patients (pts) with pancreatic cancer is associated with improved outcomes, particularly with pancreatectomy. In fact, a recent study showed that pts undergoing a pancreatectomy at an academic center (AC) is independently associated with improved outcomes. However, the role of chemotherapy (CT) and radiation (RT) in the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) at HVF and AC, to our knowledge, has not been studied. Herein, we investigate the benefit of treatment at HVF and AC compared to low volume facilities (LVF) and non-academic centers (NAC) with CT or chemoradiation (CRT) in pts with LAPC. Methods: The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was utilized to identify LAPC patients treated at all facility types. All patients were treated with CT or CRT. Univariate (UVA) and multivariate (MVA) Cox regression were performed to identify the impact of HVF and AC on overall survival (OS) when compared to LVF and NAC, respectively. HVF was defined as the top 5% of facilities by number of pts treated. Results: From 2004 – 2014, a total of 10139 pts were identified. The median age was 66 years (range 22-90) with median follow up of 48.8 months (46-52.1 months); 49.9% were male and 50.1% female. All pts had clinical stage 3/T4 disease irrespective of nodal metastases. Of these, 4779 pts were treated at an AC and 5260 were treated at a NAC and 588 were treated at HVF and 9551 were treated at LVF. On UVA, age, high median income, high education level, comorbidities, and recent year of diagnosis were associated with improved OS. ACs were associated with improved OS when compared to non-AC (HR 0.92 95% CI 0.88 – 0.96, p = 0.004), as were HVF when compared to LVH (HR 0.84 95% CI 0.76 – 0.92, p < 0.001). Odds ratio for undergoing surgical resection at HVF and AC was 1.68 and 1.37 (p < 0.001), respectively, when compared to LVF and NAC. Conclusions: The treatment of LAPC patients with CT or CRT at an AC led to significantly improved rate of surgical resection and OS. In the absence of prospective data, these results support the referral of pts with LAPC to HVF and/or AC for evaluation and treatment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 6051-6051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikumi Suzuki ◽  
Kevin J. Cullen ◽  
Ranee Mehra ◽  
Søren Bentzen ◽  
Olga G. Goloubeva

6051 Background: Despite overall decline in cancer mortality, African Americans suffer from higher mortality in most cancer types including cancers of the head and neck. These differences likely result from a complex interplay of clinical and non-clinical factors. We aim to estimate disparities in overall survival across racial groups in HNSCC in the United States. Methods: This study used SEER-Medicare linked database. We identified all patients aged 66 years or older diagnosed with HNSCC as their first cancer from 1992 to 2011. We excluded those in HMO, diagnosed by death certificate or autopsy, non-SCC, unknown race, and missing month and/or year of diagnosis. Further exclusions included metastatic disease, salivary gland cancers, receiving no treatment in the first 180 days, and unknown stage. Analytic data set included oropharynx, oral cavity, nasopharynx, hypopharynx, and larynx. Primary treatment was defined as any treatment modality received within 180 days after diagnosis. Overall survival (OS) parameters were estimated across ethnic groups by the Cox regression model stratified by site and stage of cancer at diagnosis, adjusted for clinical and demographic characteristics, and propensity score weighted. Results: Our study population included 15, 547 patients. Median OS was 3.5 years (95% CI: 3.4-3.7) across all ethnic groups. African Americans (AA) had inferior outcome with median OS of 2.0 years (95% CI: 1.9-2.3) compared to 3.7 years (95% CI: 3.6-3.8) for Caucasian Americans (CA) (p < 0.0001). This difference was seen despite AA patients receiving comparable treatments and presenting at similar stage of disease, except for cancers of the oral cavity where AA were more likely to present with advanced disease (67% versus 47%; P < 0.001). The difference was most pronounced in the oropharynx where median OS was 1.9 years (95% CI: 1.7-2.1) for AA and 3.8 years (95% CI: 3.5-4.1) in CA (P < 0.0001). AA also had consistently worse OS over time from 1992 to 2011. This study clearly demonstrated AA have inferior outcomes despite similar treatments, comorbidities, age at diagnosis, stage at presentation, tumor location, year of diagnosis and sex. Conclusions: The current study demonstrates inferior overall survival for African American head and neck cancer patients independent of primary site and treatment modalities.


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