Background Racial/ethnic minority groups in the United States have high kidney cancer mortality rates. Disparities in treatments may contribute to higher mortality in racial/ethnic minority groups, but the relationship between treatment disparities and kidney cancer mortality is not well understood. In this study, we assessed if there are differences in surgical treatments across racial/ethnic groups and surgical treatments influence disparities in overall mortality. Methods Stage I renal cell carcinoma patients who were diagnosed between 2004 and 2016 from National Cancer Database were included. Logistic regression was performed to assess associations between race/ethnicity and treatment patterns adjusting for neighborhood socioeconomic (SES) and other factors. Cox regression analysis was performed to assess associations between race/ethnicity and overall mortality. Results A total of 238,141 patients were included in the analysis. Compared to non-Hispanic Whites, American Indians/Alaska Natives, and non-Hispanic Blacks (NHBs) were more likely not to receive surgical care even after adjusting for neighborhood SES (OR 1.85, 95% CI: 1.28-2.70 and OR 1.32 95% CI: 1.20-1.45 respectively). Although all racial/ethnic groups had significantly increased odds of undergoing radical nephrectomy rather than partial nephrectomy,. NHBs had the greatest odds of receiving radical rather than partial nephrectomy (OR 1.38, 95% CI: 1.33-1.44).. The associations were slightly attenuated after including healthcare access and neighborhood SESNHBs had an elevated risk of overall mortality, while Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans had reduced risk. Including surgical treatment, health access and neighborhood factors slightly attenuated the association for NHBs, but the associations between race/ethnicity and overall mortality remained significant. Analysis was performed stratifying samples based on surgical treatment to further assess effects of surgical treatment disparities on associations between race/ethnicity and overall mortality. NHBs who had surgical treatment had increased risk of mortality (HR 1.11, 95% CI:1.06-1.17).. Among patients who underwent nephrectomy, NHBs who underwent radical nephrectomy had increased risk of mortality (HR 1.15, 95% CI: 1.08-1.23), but not NHBs who underwent partial nephrectomy (HR 0.92, 95% CI:0.84-1.02). Conclusion Racial/ethnic minority patients were more likely not to receive surgical treatment. When they do, they are likely to have less optimal surgical treatment (radical rather than partial nephrectomy). Surgical treatment disparities account for high kidney cancer mortality in NHBs.
Citation Format: Alejandro Cruz, Faith Dickerson, Kathryn R. Pulling, Kyle Garcia, Francine C. Gachupin, Chiu-Hsieh Hsu, Juan Chipollini, Benjamin R. Lee, Ken Batai. Impacts of neighborhood characteristics and surgical treatment disparities on overall mortality in stage I renal cell carcinoma patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: 14th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2021 Oct 6-8. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-169.