Tu1549 African Americans Are More Likely to Make Healthy Dietary Changes After Colon Cancer Diagnosis: Results of the Study of Outcomes in Colon Cancer Survivors (Soccs)

5-fluorouracil concurrently. All medical records were reviewed and histological data were reviewed by two independent pathologists. Results: The mean age of patients in the RT group and no RT group was 56.2 12 years and 58.2 11 years, respectively. The mean follow-up duration was 67.4 33.2 months in the RT group and 50.0 38.8 months in the no RT group. Cancer eventually recurred in five patients (7.0%; two in the RT group and three in the no RT group). In four of these patients, recurrence occurred within 2 years after the initial treatment. The other patient, who was in the no RT group, exhibited multiple lymph node metastasis at the 116-month follow-up. Kaplan-Meier estimates of recurrence-free survival at 5 years after treatment were 93% in the RT group and 94% in the no RT group (PZ0.678). Conclusion: RT after local excision of early rectal cancer with deep submucosal invasion might not improve recurrence-free survival compared with local excision alone. Tu1549 African Americans Are More Likely to Make Healthy Dietary Changes After Colon Cancer Diagnosis: Results of the Study of Outcomes in Colon Cancer Survivors (Soccs) W. Asher Wolf*, Pengcheng Xun, Robert S. Sandler, Ka He Gastroenterology & Hepatology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN Background: Responses to serious illness vary along cultural lines. The implications of race as a predictor of response to serious illness have been underexplored. We assessed the effect of race on dietary change and quality of life (QoL) after the diagnosis of colon cancer (CC). Methods: The Study of Outcomes in Colon Cancer Survivors (SOCCS) is a longitudinal cohort study of the contribution of health behaviors to racial disparities in QoL, CC recurrence, and survival of Caucasians and African Americans (AA) diagnosed with CC in North Carolina. Cases were identified using the NC Central Cancer Registry. Information on diet, physical activity, treatment, comorbidities, demographic characteristics and QoL measured with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Colorectal Cancer (FACT-C) and the 12 Terms Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) were collected within 4 months of diagnosis and at 12 and 24 months post diagnosis; we report results from the 12 month visit. Generalized estimating equations were used to model QoL assessed by the FACT-C and SF-12. Logistic regression models were used to model all-cause mortality and CC recurrence. Results: A total of 453 patients with newly diagnosed stage II CC were enrolled. Compared to Caucasian patients, AA were younger (60.7 vs 64.5 years, p!0.01), had higher BMIs (30 vs 28, p!0.01), were less likely to be married (44 vs 63%, p!0.01), and more likely to live below the poverty line (32 vs 10%, p!0.01). AA were more likely to have never smoked (54 vs 49%, pZ0.04), but did not differ on alcohol consumption. One year after colon cancer diagnosis (Table 1), AA were more likely to have increased their intake of reduced fat milk (34 vs 16%, pZ0.046), vegetables (46 vs 30%, p!0.01), and fruit (49 vs 34%, pZ0.01). They decreased their intake of regular cheese (49 vs 30%, pZ0.01), red meat (68 vs 53%, pZ0.02), fried food (89 vs 55%, p!0.01), fast food (85 vs 60%, p!0.01), and fat (52 vs 26%, p!0.01). After adjustment for age, gender, education, income, BMI, tobacco, alcohol, physical activity, chemotherapy, and diet, AA had higher scores on portions of the FACT-C and the SF-12 (Table 2), indicating a higher QoL, particularly in areas of physical performance. There was no significant difference in mortality (adjusted OR 0.9 [0.5, 1.8]) or CC recurrence (adjusted OR 1.3 [0.5, 3.0]). Conclusion: In spite of lower socioeconomic status, AA diagnosed with CC were more likely to make healthy dietary changes than their white peers. These changes were associated with a higher QoL. There was no significant difference in disease recurrence or death, suggesting that dietary alterations may have imparted a QoL benefit. Table 1. Dietary Change by Race, Percent of Baseline Value* www.giejou Caucasian (n[184)