Texas data show lower OS rates for Hispanic patients with certain hematologic malignancies
Hispanic patients in Texas with certain blood cancers had lower OS than their non-Hispanic white counterparts, according to study results presented at American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting II.
“The Hispanic population is the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, representing 18% of the total population,” Alfonso E. Bencomo-Alvarez, PhD, postdoctoral research associate at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, said during a presentation. “Cancer is the leading cause of death in the Hispanic-American population. Hispanics are more likely to be diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia — two types of blood cancer — at younger ages and typically have worse OS than non-Hispanic white patients.”
An estimated 57.5 million Hispanic individuals live in the United States, including more than 11 million in Texas.
Previous studies have shown Hispanic patients with cancer face health disparities because of poverty and other barriers to optimal health care. However, few data exist on blood cancer incidence and survival among Hispanic patients who live at the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
Alvarez and colleagues analyzed 69,941 cases of hematologic malignancies diagnosed between 1995 and 2016 and included in the Texas Cancer Registry to compare survival between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white populations. Nearly one-fifth (18.2%) of those diagnosed were Hispanic individuals.
Researchers focused on chronic and acute leukemias, myelodysplastic syndrome and myeloproliferative neoplasms and compared the populations using the log-rank test and Cox regression analyses adjusted for age and diagnosis.
Results showed a significantly younger age of diagnosis for Hispanic patients in all diseases analyzed (P < .0001).
Unadjusted analyses showed Hispanic patients had significantly longer OS than non-Hispanic white patients diagnosed with myeloid malignancies (P < .0001), but no significant differences among patients with other types of leukemia.
After adjusting for age, results showed disparities in OS for Hispanic patients compared with non-Hispanic white patients with ALL (P < .0001) and acute promyelocytic leukemia (P = .03). Among those aged 18 to 49 years with ALL, researchers observed a 10-year OS rate of 28% for Hispanic patients vs. 39% for non-Hispanic white patients. Among those in the same age group with acute promyelocytic leukemia, Hispanic patients had a 10-year OS rate of 69% vs. 76% for non-Hispanic white patients.
Researchers did not observe any significant differences in other hematologic malignancies.
Hispanic patients diagnosed in El Paso, located near the U.S.-Mexico border, had a significantly lower 10-year OS rates compared with Hispanic patients in other parts of Texas for ALL (28% vs. 31%; P = .016), AML (13% vs. 22%; P < .0001) and CML (43% vs. 57%; P = .016).
“Hispanics are diagnosed at a significantly younger age than non-Hispanics in all blood cancers analyzed,” Bencomo-Alvarez said. “In general, Hispanics had more comorbidities, lack of health insurance and worse socioeconomic status compared with non-Hispanics.”
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