Socioeconomic status, race, and mortality disparities in insured patients in southern California.

Abstract

e19060 Background: One known factor related to increased mortality is lack of health insurance coverage. To eliminate this variable we evaluated overall mortality by socioeconomic status (SES) in an insured southern California population diagnosed with cancer accounting for confounding factors including race/ethnicity. Methods: We identified adults diagnosed with eight common cancers from 2009-2014 from the California Cancer Registry and followed them through 2017. We calculated person-year mortality rates by SES and race/ethnicity. Adjusted hazard ratios for the association between all-cause mortality and SES were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models accounting for covariates (race/ethnicity, demographics, stage, treatments). Results: A total of 164,197 adults were diagnosed with cancers of the breast, prostate, lung, colon, melanoma, uterus, kidney and bladder; total of numbers of deaths was N=41,727. Compared to subjects in the highest SES quintile, we found an increased overall mortality risk in each of the lower SES quintiles. In multivariable models, mortality risk was 16% to 37% greater in the lower SES groups versus the highest SES group. Conclusions: After multivariable adjustment that accounted for race/ethnicity, cancer treatments and tumor factors, insured individuals in lower SES groups had a significantly higher overall mortality risk compared those in the highest SES group. [Table: see text]