Colorectal cancer mortality among Cuban and non-Cuban Hispanics.

Abstract

775 Background: We examined all-cause mortality of Floridian colorectal cancer (CRC) patients among Hispanics of Cuban and non-Cuban origin, non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs) and non-Hispanic Blacks (NHBs). We hypothesized that Cuban Hispanics would have a higher mortality risk relative to other Hispanics in Florida with CRC. Methods: We obtained data from the Florida Cancer Data System for all incident CRC cases (2007-2011) among Floridians 18+ years and linked these files with data from Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration and the 2006-2010 American Community Survey (n=46,579). Race/ethnic groups were Cuban, non-Cuban Hispanic, NHW, and NHB. Log-rank tests were performed among race/ethnic groups with multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models for mortality adjusting for demographic and clinical factors to produce adjusted hazard ratios (HR). Results: Cubans’ mortality were not significantly different from NHWs (p=0.8254) or NHBs (p=0.3047) but significantly different from non-Cuban Hispanics (p=0.0006). Adjusting for all covariates and compared with highest SES within each race/ethnicity, residing in lower SES neighborhoods was associated with increased mortality risk for NHWs (HR=1.19; 95%CI=1.12-1.27) and NHBs (1.33; 1.13-1.57) but not for Hispanics. Among Hispanics, Cubans with proximal CRC had a 42% higher mortality risk than those with distal disease (1.42; 1.11-1.82); however, tumor location was not predictive of mortality for other racial/ethnic groups. Single or widowed Cuban Hispanics had higher mortality risk compared to those who were married (1.42; 1.07-1.88 for both comparisons) but this was not true for non-Cuban Hispanics. Conclusions: Cuban Hispanics are a distinct and understudied population group who should not be aggregated into a general category of Hispanic with respect to CRC mortality studies. Further research to understand the Cuban Hispanic differences in CRC mortality risk is needed to reduce the burden of disease, especially in the ever growing Hispanic population.