Effects of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status on outcome in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Sahaja Acharya, Samantha Hsieh, Eric T. Shinohara, Todd De Wees, Haydar Frangoul, Stephanie M. Perkins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

With modern therapy, overall survival (OS) for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia approaches 90%. However, inferior outcomes for minority children have been reported. Data on the effects of ethnicity/race as it relates to socioeconomic status are limited. Using state cancer registry data from Texas and Florida, we evaluated the impact of neighborhood-level poverty rate and race/ethnicity on OS for 4719 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. On multivariable analysis, patients residing in neighborhoods with the highest poverty rate had a 1.8-fold increase in mortality compared with patients residing in neighborhoods with the lowest poverty rate (hazard ratio [HR], 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.41-2.30). Hispanic and non-Hispanic black patients also had increased risk of mortality compared with non- Hispanic white patients (Hispanic: HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.01-1.39; non-Hispanic black: HR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.03-1.66). On subgroup analysis, there was a 21.7% difference in 5-year OS when comparing non-Hispanic white children living in the lowest poverty neighborhoods (5-year OS, 91.2%; 95% CI, 88.6-93.2) to non- Hispanic black children living in the highest poverty neighborhoods (5-year OS, 69.5%; 95% CI, 61.5-76.1). To address such disparities in survival, further work is needed to identify barriers to cancer care in this pediatric population.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)350-354
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Volume38
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

Keywords

  • ALL
  • Leukemia
  • Minority
  • Poverty
  • Socioeconomic status

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
  • Hematology
  • Oncology

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