IMPORTANCEAlthough US cancer survival rates have increased over time, disparities by race/ethnicity remain, including for children and adolescents.OBJECTIVE To examine whether racial/ethnic disparities in childhood and adolescent cancer survival vary by cancer type according to relative survival rates (RSRs), a marker for amenability to medical intervention. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSIn a retrospective cohort study using US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data, 67 061 children and adolescents diagnosed at ages 0 to 19 years with a first primary malignant cancer from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2016, were evaluated. Data analysis was performed from June 19 to November 3, 2019. Participants were followed up from the dates of diagnosis to cancer death or the end of the follow-up period, whichever came first.EXPOSURES Race/ethnicity defined as non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native, non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander, or Hispanic (any race). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESCancer amenability was defined using 5-year RSRs for 103 cancer types. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to compute adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% CIs for the association between race/ethnicity and cancer survival for high (>85% RSR), medium (70%-85% RSR), and low (<70% RSR) amenability categories. RESULTS Among 67 061 cancer cases, 36 064 were male (53.8%); most individuals were non-Hispanic white (35 186 [52.5%]) followed by Hispanic of any race (19 220 [28.7%]), non-Hispanic black (7100 [10.6%]), non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander (4981 [7.4%]), and non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaskan Native (574 [0.9%]). Mean (SD) age at diagnosis was 9.66 (6.41) years. Compared with non-Hispanic white children and adolescents, a higher aHR of death was observed for high-than low-amenability cancers for non-Hispanic black patients
IMPORTANCE Ability to afford medication is a major determinate of medication adherence among patients.OBJECTIVE To determine cost-related barriers to medication adherence by race and ethnicity in a nationwide cohort of patients with glaucoma. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis cross-sectional study included patients with glaucoma enrolled in the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program, a nationwide longitudinal cohort of US adults, with more than 300 000 currently enrolled. Individuals with a diagnosis of glaucoma based on electronic health record diagnosis codes who participated in the Health Care Access and Utilization survey and had complete data on all covariates were studied. Data were collected from June 2016 to March 2021, and data were analyzed from August to November 2021.EXPOSURES Race and ethnicity defined as non-Hispanic African American, non-Hispanic Asian, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White.MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between reported cost-related barriers to medication adherence (could not afford prescription medication, skipped medication doses to save money, took less medication to save money, delayed filling a prescription to save money, asked for lower-cost medication to save money, bought prescriptions from another country to save money, and used alternative therapies to save money) and race and ethnicity, adjusting multivariable models by age, gender, health insurance status, education, and income. Odds ratios of these barriers were obtained by race and ethnicity, with non-Hispanic White race as the reference group. RESULTSOf 3826 included patients with glaucoma, 481 (12.6%) were African American, 119 (3.1%) were non-Hispanic Asian, 351 (9.2%) were Hispanic, and 2875 (75.1%) were non-Hispanic White. The median (IQR) age was 69 (60-75) years, and 2307 (60.3%) were female. After adjusting for confounders, non-Hispanic African American individuals (odds ratio, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.34-2.44) and Hispanic individuals (odds ratio, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.25-2.49) were more likely than non-Hispanic White individuals to report not being able to afford medications. Further, despite having the lowest rate of endorsing difficulty affording medications, non-Hispanic White individuals were equally likely to ask for lower-cost medication from their clinicians as individuals of racial and ethnic minority groups.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this study, there was significantly higher odds of self-reported difficulty affording medications among non-Hispanic African American and Hispanic individuals compared with non-Hispanic White individuals. Clinicians should be proactive and initiate discussions about costs in an effort to promote medication adherence and health equity among patients.
Background To the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has examined the relationship between rural/urban residence and childhood or adolescent cancer survival in the United States. Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 18 registries database, the authors examined childhood and adolescent cancer survival by rural/urban residence as defined by Rural‐Urban Continuum Codes (RUCCs). Methods The authors obtained data from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 18 registries for individuals diagnosed at ages birth to 19 years with a first primary malignant cancer from 2000 through 2010. Rural/urban residence at the time of diagnosis was defined using both metropolitan/nonmetropolitan county classifications and individual RUCC categories. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to compute adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the association between rural/urban residence and cancer survival. The authors also examined effect modification by age group, sex, race/ethnicity, and cancer type. Results Among 41,879 cancer cases, approximately 54.7% were non‐Hispanic white, 54.3% were male, and 90.4% lived in a metropolitan county. Individuals living in nonmetropolitan counties versus metropolitan counties had a similar risk of cancer death (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.94‐1.13) as did those living in nonmetropolitan rural counties with <2500 individuals nonadjacent to a metropolitan area versus those living in metropolitan counties of ≥1 million individuals (HR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.71‐1.37). Evidence for effect modification largely was absent. Conclusions The results of the current study suggest that childhood and adolescent cancer survival in the United States does not vary by rural/urban residence at the time of diagnosis as defined by RUCCs. The widespread availability of public health insurance for children and adolescents and a nationwide network of pediatric cancer providers may explain this finding.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.