Abstract
Background Disparities are known to underlie outcomes in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNET) represent a rare yet deadly form of pancreatic cancer. Health disparities have not been well described in this patient population. We hypothesize that given the significant health disparities in PDAC, cancer health disparities exist in patients with PNETs. Methods Patients treated for PNETs were identified in a National Cancer Database (NCDB) Patient User File for the years 2004-2015. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to assess survival. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the effect of clinical and socioeconomic factors on survival. Results Review of the NCDB found 19,752 reported cases of PNETs. Of those, 15,589 (78.9%) were non-Hispanic white (NHW), 2,462 (12.5%) were black (B), and 1,710 (8.6%) were Hispanic, white (H). On univariate analysis, greater age, male sex, higher Charlson comorbidity score, higher disease stage, lack of insurance, decreased median household income in area of residence, and no surgery were associated with worse survival (p< 0.05). While not statistically significant and unlike pancreatic adenocarcinoma, black patients had greater median survival (89.6 months; 95% CI 77.9-101.196) compared to NHW (76.4 months; 95% CI 72.9-79.8) and H (80.1 months; 95%CI 70.7-89.5) patients. On multivariate analysis, the same factors from the univariate analysis were associated with worsened survival (p< 0.05). Sub-analyses of patients who received surgery and those who did not again showed no significant difference in survival based on race. Conclusion While insurance status, median income in area of residence, and sex were associated with clinical outcomes in PNETs, race was not a contributing factor. This is in contrast to literature in PDAC which has demonstrated that black patients have worse survival. The reasons for this difference are unclear, but may biologically driven. It is important to understand disparities from different types of pancreatic tumors. Further work to understand biologic contributions to health inequities are needed.
Citation Format: Patrick W Underwood, Andrea N Riner, Michael U Maduka, Sushanth Reddy, J. Bart Rose, Jose G Trevino. Socioeconomic disparities underlie outcomes in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr D113.