Abstract B064: Racial disparities in bone and soft-tissue sarcomas: An analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program
Authors: El Beaino Marc , Baum Rachel , Masrouha Karim , Lin Patrick P. 
Published: December 2023

Introduction Bone and soft-tissue sarcomas comprise a broad yet heterogenous group of malignancies, separately classified into at least 70 different histological diseases. In the United States, approximately 15,000 cases of bone and soft-tissue sarcomas are annually diagnosed, roughly representing 1% of all incident cancer diseases. Health disparities exist for cancer patients of different racial identities, but research on patients with soft-tissue and bone sarcomas is still debatable. This analysis elucidates racial discrepancies in epidemiological measures among patients with such diseases. Methods The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was queried between 2000 and 2020 for patients with bone or soft-tissue sarcomas. Metrics, consisting of prevalence, incidence, and incidence-based mortality rates, as well as case-fatality ratios were computed. Multivariate survivorship analyses controlling for age, sex, race, tumor size, stage, and grade were performed to identify independent predictors of survival. Results The most and least frequently diagnosed subtypes of bone and soft-tissue sarcomas were leiomyosarcoma and lymphangiosarcoma with an average of 889.6 and 1.3 cases per year, respectively. Malignancies were all primarily identified in White patients compared to subjects of other races. From 2000 to 2020, the prevalence of fibrosarcoma significantly increased for non-White and non-Black individuals and the prevalence of dermatofibrosarcoma decreased only for White individuals (both, p&lt;0.05). Incident cases of dermatofibrosarcoma decreased for White patients and the general population but increased for Black patients and those of other races (p&lt;0.001). Incident cases of synovial sarcoma, on the other hand, declined only among Black individuals (p&lt;0.001). Incidence-based mortality rates increased significantly among patients with almost all bone and soft-tissue sarcomas but declined among Black individuals with fibrous histiocytoma (both, p&lt;0.001). Multivariate survivorship analysis showed that Black individuals experienced worse survival compared to White individuals with clear cell sarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, and synovial sarcoma. Individuals of other races with clear cell sarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, and leiomyosarcoma experienced worse survival compared to White patients with these diseases. Conclusion Current literature has not delineated the impact of demographic factors like race and ethnicity on prevalence, incidence, mortality, and survivorship of patients with bone and soft-tissue sarcomas. Racial discrepancies exist among patients with various subtypes of bone and soft-tissue sarcoma. More exploration into social determinants of health is necessary to understand how race plays a role in the epidemiology of these cancers. 

Citation Format: Marc El Beaino, Rachel Baum, Karim Masrouha, Patrick P. Lin. Racial disparities in bone and soft-tissue sarcomas: An analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2023 Sep 29-Oct 2;Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(12 Suppl):Abstract nr B064.