Cancer-Specific Mortality in Asian American Women Diagnosed with Gynecologic Cancer: A Nationwide Population-Based Analysis
Abstract
Background:
Cancer is the leading cause of death in Asian Americans (AA), the fastest-growing U.S. population group. Despite heterogeneity in socioeconomic status and health behaviors by ethnicity, few studies have assessed cancer outcomes across AA ethnic groups. We examined differences in gynecologic cancer mortality between AA ethnic groups and non-Hispanic Whites (NHW).
Methods:
Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, we identified ovarian (n = 69,113), uterine (n = 157,340), and cervical cancer cases (n = 41,460) diagnosed from 1991–2016. Competing risk regression was used to compare cancer-specific mortality for AAs by ethnicity, using NHW as the reference population.
Results:
In adjusted analyses, AAs had a lower risk of ovarian [HR, 0.90; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.86–0.94] and cervical cancer death (HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.75–0.87) than NHWs, with stronger associations among those ≥50 years at diagnosis [(HRovary, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.82–0.92); (HRcervix, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.67–0.81)]. No overall difference was noted for uterine cancer death (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.97–1.10); however, AAs <50 years at diagnosis had a higher risk of uterine cancer death than NHWs (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.08–1.46). Patterns of cancer mortality were heterogeneous, with Filipino and Chinese women at the highest risk of uterine cancer death and Indian/Pakistani women at the lowest risk of ovarian and cervical cancer death.
Conclusions:
There are significant differences in gynecologic cancer mortality between AAs and NHWs, with heterogeneity by AA ethnicity.
Impact:
Disaggregated analysis of AA is needed to better understand the burden of gynecologic cancer and identify high-risk groups for cancer prevention efforts.
