Abstract A054 Liver cancer mortality by structural disadvantage and race: An analysis of U.S. area-level factors
Authors: McGee-Avila Jennifer K. , Lawrence Wayne R. , Joe Natalie , Haas Cameron B. , Shiels Meredith S 
Published: September 2024

Introduction: Racial/ethnic and sex disparities in liver cancer (LC) mortality are well established; yet little is known about the contributions of county-level social risks on these disparities. Methods: We used U.S. national death certificate data from the National Center for Health Statistics (2018-2022) for LC mortality. County-level estimates of income inequality (ratio of household income at the 80th and 20th percentile), and median household income were obtained using the American Community Survey. Severe housing problems (percentage of households with 1 of 4 housing problems: overcrowding, high housing costs, lack of kitchen facilities, or lack of plumbing facilities) were abstracted from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Census Bureau. We estimated age-adjusted mortality rates (MR) and MR rate ratios (aRR) across metrics of county-level social risk grouped in quartiles overall and by race/ethnicity. Results: There were 101,088 liver cancer (LC) deaths from 2018-2022 (MR=6.16 per 100,000). Areas of highest county-level income inequality had 31% higher LC mortality compared to areas within the lowest quartile (aRR=1.31). LC MRs were 45% higher in counties with the lowest vs. highest median household income (aRR=1.45). Men and women in the highest quartile of severe housing problems had 29% and 22% higher LC MR (aRR=1.29 and 1.22, respectively), than those in the lowest quartiles. Men and women in the lowest quartile of median household income had 43% and 49% higher LC mortality than those in the highest median income quartiles (aRR=1.43 and 1.49, respectively). Within the highest quartile of income inequality, American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) persons had the highest LC mortality rates (MR=7.07), followed by Hispanic (MR=6.75), Black (MR=6.48), and Asian (MR=5.83) individuals. Similarly, in the highest quartile of severe housing problems, AI/AN persons had the highest LC mortality rate (MR 7.74), while Hispanic persons had 58% higher MR (MR 7.01), followed by Black (MR=6.19), Asian (MR=5.85) and White (MR=4.07) individuals. In the lowest median household income quartile, compared to White persons (MR=5.91), AI/AN persons had the highest MR (MR=8.86), and Hispanic persons had a 70% increase in mortality (MR=8.48). Among counties with the highest income inequality, compared to White persons (aRR=1.15), Black persons had an 80% increase in mortality (aRR=1.43). For those in the most concentrated quartile of severe housing problems, compared to White persons (aRR=1.07), AI/AN persons had an 80% increase in mortality (MR=1.34).Conclusion: All county-level indicators of highest social risk were associated with greater liver cancer mortality, but do not appear to fully account for racial and ethnic disparities in mortality. Therefore, place- based interventions are needed to address the role of county-level economic attributes in liver cancer mortality disparities.

Citation Format: Jennifer K. McGee-Avila, Wayne R. Lawrence, Natalie Joe, Cameron B. Haas, Meredith S Shiels. Liver cancer mortality by structural disadvantage and race: An analysis of U.S. area-level factors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A054.