Abstract B035: Health-related quality of life among Detroit lung cancer survivors: Findings from the Detroit ROCS studies
Authors: Mantey Julia , Wenzlaff Angela , Beebe-Dimmer Jennifer , Albrecht Terrance , Schwartz Ann G. 
Published: August 2020

Background: Lung cancer continues to cause more deaths than other cancers, with mortality among African Americans higher than among whites. Despite this, research on the psychosocial aspects of lung cancer patients' quality of life lags behind that of other cancer types, such as breast or prostate. The Detroit Research on Cancer Survivors (ROCS) studies follow the experience of cancer survivors, including lung cancer patients, in Detroit, MI. The Detroit ROCS studies include the pilot study of whites and African Americans, and the ongoing study of African Americans only.

Methods: Participants in the Detroit ROCS studies complete the Functional Assessment in Cancer Therapy (FACT) instrument to evaluate their health-related quality of life (QOL). FACT scores are derived from subscores evaluating physical, emotional, social, and functional well-being. Higher scores indicate better QOL. In addition, participants are asked to provide basic demographic information, health history, family history of cancer, and exposure history. Data related to their cancer diagnosis and census tract are gathered via the Metropolitan Detroit Cancer Surveillance System. We examined preliminary data collected from 227 (131 African American and 96 white) lung cancer survivors to assess racial differences in self-reported aspects of well-being. We compared descriptive characteristics using Pearson's Chi-square and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. We modeled adjusted mean well-being subscores using a general linear model.

Results: The mean age of African American participants was 61.9 (SD=7.6) and the mean age of whites was 62.9 (SD=8.9). Among African American participants, 40.5% were male; of white participants, 45.8% were male. The distributions of age and sex did not differ significantly between groups. African American participants were less likely to have any college education (p=0.0480), and more likely to live in a census tract with at least 20% poverty (p&lt;0.0001). In a general linear model adjusted for age, sex, cancer stage, and time from diagnosis to interview, race did not predict differences in mean physical and functional well-being subscores. Race significantly predicted differences in adjusted mean emotional and social well-being scores (p=0.0379 and p=0.0466, respectively). The estimated adjusted mean emotional well-being subscore was higher among African Americans than among whites, while the estimated adjusted mean social well-being score was higher among whites.

Conclusions: While functional and physical well-being outcomes are similar for African American and white patients after a lung cancer diagnosis, emotional and social well-being outcomes diverge by race. These measures reflect disparities in QOL among lung cancer patients, whose QOL is minimally studied compared to survivors of cancers with lower mortality rates. Future analyses will identify factors influencing this disparity in emotional and social well-being, and describe additional determinants contributing to the QOL of lung cancer survivors.

Citation Format: Julia Mantey, Angela Wenzlaff, Jennifer Beebe-Dimmer, Terrance Albrecht, Ann G. Schwartz. Health-related quality of life among Detroit lung cancer survivors: Findings from the Detroit ROCS studies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2018 Nov 2-5; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl):Abstract nr B035.