Race-based socioeconomic and treatment disparities in adolescent and young adults with stage II-III rectal cancer.

Abstract

714 Background: Stage II-III rectal cancer (CA) requires a multidisciplinary approach to optimize outcomes. This study explores whether treatment disparities account for racial differences in outcomes of AYA (ages 15-39) patients. Methods: AYAs with clinical stage II-III rectal CA were identified in the National Cancer Database. Demographic, clinical, and pathologic features predictive of receipt of adjuvant and surgical therapies were examined as well as factors associated with overall survival (OS). Results: Most of the 3,295 patients were white (72.0%), male (57.5%) and free of comorbidities (93.8%). Income, education levels, and rates of health insurance coverage were higher for whites than for blacks or Hispanics. Clinical stage was balanced by race, but more blacks and Hispanics did not receive radiation (24.5% and 27.1%, respectively, vs 16.5% for whites), surgery (22.4% and 15.3%, vs 12.3%), or chemotherapy (21.5% and 24.1%, vs 16.7%; p < 0.05). Additionally, the average number of days before treatment was 34.0 for blacks and 33.3 for Hispanics, versus 27.5 for whites (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that receipt of neoadjuvant chemoradiation was less likely when patients were black (OR 0.7, 95%CI 0.5-0.9, p = 0.014), Hispanic (OR 0.6, 95%CI 0.4-0.9, p = 0.012), female (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.63-0.94, p = 0.011), without insurance (OR 0.5, 95%CI 0.36-0.69, p < 0.001), or treated at a community cancer center (OR 0.5, 95%CI 0.36- 0.74, p < 0.05). Race significantly influenced treatment, regardless of disease stage. Although 5-year OS was lower (p < 0.05) in blacks (59.8±3.3%) and Hispanics (65.9±3.5%) compared to whites (74.9±1.1%), race did not impact mortality on Cox regression. Instead, mortality was associated with male sex (HR 1.5, 95%CI 1.1-2.0, p = 0.009), nodal positivity (HR 2.6, 95%CI 1.9-3.6, p < 0.001), nonsurgical therapy (HR 7.1, 95%CI 2.8-18.2, p < 0.001), no chemotherapy (HR 1.9, 95%CI 1.03-3.6, p = 0.04), poorly differentiated histology (HR 3.0, 95%CI 1.3-6.5, p = 0.007), and no insurance (HR 1.7, 95%CI 1.1-2.7, p = 0.022). Conclusions: Race-based socioeconomic and treatment disparities may contribute to survival differences among AYAs with rectal cancer.