A population-based study of racial and ethnic differences in survival among women with invasive cervical cancer: Analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data

• Published in: Gynecologic oncology 2005-05, Vol.97 (2), p.550-558
• Main Authors: Patel, Divya A., Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S., Patel, Mehul K., Malone, John M., Chuba, Paul J., Schwartz, Kendra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; African Americans; Aged; Cervical cancer; Cervix neoplasms; Ethnicity; European Continental Ancestry Group; Female; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Race; SEER Program; Survival; Survival analysis; Survival Rate; United States - epidemiology; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - epidemiology; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - ethnology; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - mortality
• ISSN: 0090-8258; 1095-6859
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2005.01.045

The incidence of cervical cancer is higher in Hispanic than in non-Hispanic or African American women in the United States, but few studies have examined differences in survival between these groups. The objective of this study was to examine racial/ethnic differences in survival after diagnosis with invasive cervical cancer in a population-based sample of patients while adjusting for patient and tumor characteristics and treatment types. We identified 7267 women (4431 non-Hispanic Caucasians, 1830 Hispanic Caucasians, and 1006 non-Hispanic African Americans) diagnosed with primary invasive cervical cancer from 1992 to 1996 (with follow-up through 2000) from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards survival methods were used to assess differences in survival by race/ethnicity. After adjusting for age at diagnosis, histology, stage, first course of cancer-directed treatment (surgery and radiation therapy), and SEER registry, Hispanic Caucasian women were at 26% decreased risk of death from any cause (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.74, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.66–0.83) and non-Hispanic African American women were at 19% increased risk of death (HR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.06–1.33) compared to non-Hispanic Caucasian women over the follow-up period. Analysis of population-based SEER data indicates significant survival differences by race/ethnicity for women with invasive cervical cancer. Hispanic Caucasian women in SEER had improved survival compared to non-Hispanic Caucasian or non-Hispanic African American women.