Racial and economic disparities in the treatment of penile squamous cell carcinoma: Results from the National Cancer Database

Abstract

PurposeWe evaluated sociodemographic and economic differences in overall survival (OS) of patients with penile SCC using the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB). MethodsWe identified 5,412 patients with a diagnosis of penile squamous cell carcinoma from 1998 to 2011 with clinically nonmetastatic disease and available pathologic tumor and nodal staging. OS was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences were determined using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazard regression was performed to identify independent predictors of OS. ResultsEstimated median OS was 91.9 months (interquartile range: 25.8–not reached) at median follow-up of 44.7 months (interquartile range: 17.2–81.0). Survival did not change over the study period (P = 0.28). Black patients presented with a higher stage of disease (pT3/T4: 16.6 vs. 13.2%, P = 0.027) and had worse median OS (68.6 vs. 93.7 months, P<0.01). Patients with private insurance and median income≥$63,000 based on zip code presented with a lower stage of disease (pT3/T4: 11.6 vs. 14.7%, P = 0.002 and 12.0 vs. 14.0%, P = 0.042, respectively) and had better median OS (163.2 vs. 70.8 months, P<0.01 and 105.3 vs. 86.4 months, p = 0.001, respectively). On multivariate analysis, black race (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.21–1.58; P<0.01) was independently associated with worse OS, whereas private insurance (HR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.63–0.98; P = 0.028) and higher median income≥$63,000 (HR = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.72–0.93; P = 0.001) were independently associated with better OS. ConclusionsRacial and economic differences in the survival of patients with penile cancer exist. An understanding of these differences may help minimize disparities in cancer care.