African-Americans Have Worse Prognosis Compared to Caucasians When Diagnosed With Colorectal Cancer
African-American
patients with colorectal were more likely to present with worse
pathological features at diagnosis and to have a worse five-year
survival rate compared to Caucasian patients, according to a study
conducted by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University.
The
results are being presented at the 2009 American Society of Clinical
Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. The study was led
by Edith Mitchell, M.D., a clinical professor in the Department of
Medical Oncology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson
University. Dr. Mitchell is also associate director of Diversity
Programs for the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson.
“One
possible explanation could be the socioeconomic factors that are often
associated with African-American patients,” Dr. Mitchell said. “For
example, research has shown that African-Americans are less likely than
Caucasian patients to have health insurance, and thus they may not
receive the screening necessary to detect colorectal cancer at an
earlier stage.”
Dr.
Mitchell and colleagues obtained data from the tumor registry of Thomas
Jefferson University Hospital on 2,500 patients treated for colorectal
cancer from 1988 to 2007. They compared those data with data obtained
from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End
Results (SEER) database on 244,701 patients with colorectal cancer
treated from 1988 to 2005. The researchers collected data on location,
stage and histologic grade of the cancer.
In
both patient groups, more African-American patients presented with
advanced disease (defined as stage III or stage IV) at diagnosis.
African-American patients were also more likely to have proximal – on
the right side of the colon – disease. Among patients diagnosed with
early-stage disease, the risk for nodal involvement was greater in
African-American patients.
African-American patients also had a worse five-year survival, both overall and when stratified by cancer stage.
“Right
now, we cannot definitely explain why there are such differences
between the African-American and the Caucasian patients,” Dr. Mitchell
said. “We need to do more studies on prognostic factors related to
tumor biology, molecular markers and genetics to account for the racial
disparities.”
Media Only Contact:
Emily Shafer
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Phone: (215) 955-6300
Published: 1/16/2009