Abstract 5019: Quality of life and racial disparities in cancer

The purpose of this study was to analyze effects and interactions of quality of life and cancer in a diverse population. In the last two decades rates of cancer decreased in the general population, yet significant disparities to racial minorities continue to exist, including preventive actions, choice of cancer treatment and quality of life. Since studies have shown that quality of life data can be a significant independent predictor of survival duration for cancer patients, it is highly relevant to analyze racial disparities in regard to this matter. To extract factors that are potentially predictive of or associated with quality of life we analyzed a diverse population of non-cancer individuals as well as individuals who had been diagnosed with one or more forms of cancer (lung, prostate, colon, breast or a combination) using the Cohort V 2002 baseline dataset from the SEER Medicare Health Outcomes Survey linked database. The SF-36® instrument that was used for this resource is a short-form health survey with 36 questions which yields physical and mental health summary measures, allowing us to analyze underlining causes for racial disparities in cancer incidence and treatment, quality of life and several other covariates. Multivariate linear regression models were used for the entire patient sample to estimate the difference among races (White/ Black or African American/ Other) in terms of the standardized mental health score. The covariates we were able to include next to race and mental health in the model were: cancer diagnosis, current treatment, gender, marital status and level of education. With a total of 108,210 patients with valid form, 86.2% were White, 8.4% Black and 5.4% of other race. The cancer rates were 17.8%, 13.0%, and 12.7% respectively and were significantly different among races. Significant mental health score differences exist among races in the non-cancer as well as the cancer population and were found to be significantly lower for the latter. But these differences in the mental score were not statistically significant among different races after adjusting for the covariates. Most importantly significant differences were observed in the mental health scores depending on the type of cancer a patient was treated for. The results that were found in this study indicate a positive relationship between quality of life for cancer patients and the type of cancer they were treated for rather than their race. Racial disparities may thus at least partially be explained by the form of cancer and/or treatment different groups of cancer patients are receiving. Factors that may further influence the mental health status of cancer patients positively include being married, being female and having an education higher than a high school diploma. Future studies will need to analyze further covariates as well as the various specific molecular factors of specific cancer types and/or treatment modalities as underlying causes for racial disparities in cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5019. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5019