Abstract 4812: Evaluating racial and ethnic differences in advanced-stage laryngeal cancer treatment and outcomes in Florida: Unmasking the inequities
Authors: Washington Caretia J. , Lattimore Chayil , Braithwaite Dejana , Fredenburg Kristianna , Karanth Shama 
Published: March 2024

Purpose: To evaluate the association between race/ethnicity, treatment, and mortality among individuals with advanced-stage laryngeal cancer in Florida.

Methods: We obtained data from the Florida Cancer Data System (FCDS) on non-Hispanic (NH)-White (the reference group), Hispanic, and NH-Black patients with advanced-stage (regional and distant) laryngeal cancer from 2009 to 2020. Sociodemographic factors were obtained from FCDS (age, marital status, and insurance) and the United States Census at the county level (education, household income, and rurality). Treatment strategies included chemoradiation, surgery followed by chemoradiation, chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and surgery followed by chemotherapy. The primary outcome was overall mortality. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) and to examine the association of race/ethnicity with treatment and survival, while adjusting for sociodemographic factors.

Results: There were 4,522 participants with advanced-stage laryngeal cancer (57.9% &lt;65 years, 79.5% male, 75.4% NH-White, 13.1% Hispanic, and 11.5% NH-Black) included in the analysis. Compared to NH-White patients, NH-Black patients were less likely to be married, have private insurance, and live in an urban county. Moreover, NH-Black individuals were less likely to receive chemoradiation alone and were more likely to receive surgery followed by chemoradiation. Government insurance was highly associated with chemoradiation receipt. In age-adjusted models, NH-Black patients with advanced-stage laryngeal cancer had a higher risk of death compared to NH-White patients (HR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.32), while Hispanic patients had a lower risk of death compared to NH-White patients (HR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.89). After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, there was no statistically significant difference in overall mortality in NH-Black patients compared to NH-White patients (HR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.96, 1.20). However, among individuals who received chemoradiation, NH-Black patients had a higher risk of mortality, even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, compared to NH-White patients (HR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.55).

Conclusions: Among patients with advanced-stage laryngeal cancer in Florida, NH-Black patients experienced a higher risk of overall mortality compared to other racial and ethnic groups, but this discrepancy was primarily among those who received chemoradiation, even after accounting for sociodemographic factors. This study emphasizes the urgency of expanding laryngeal cancer care access for NH-Black individuals and investigating possible biological variations in their response to chemoradiation and subsequent survival outcomes.

Citation Format: Caretia J. Washington, Chayil Lattimore, Dejana Braithwaite, Kristianna Fredenburg, Shama Karanth. Evaluating racial and ethnic differences in advanced-stage laryngeal cancer treatment and outcomes in Florida: Unmasking the inequities [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 4812.