Analysis of Race and Gender Disparities in Mortality Trends from Patients Diagnosed with Nasopharyngeal, Oropharyngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancer from 2000 to 2017

• Main Authors: Chiruvella V, Guddati AK
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2021-10-01
• Series: International Journal of General Medicine
• Subjects: cancer; mortality; race; gender
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/analysis-of-race-and-gender-disparities-in-mortality-trends-from-patie-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-IJGM

Varsha Chiruvella,1 Achuta Kumar Guddati2 1Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, 30909, USA; 2Division of Hematology/Oncology, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, 30909, USACorrespondence: Achuta Kumar GuddatiDivision of Hematology/Oncology, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, 30909, USATel [phone]Email [e-mail]: Squamous cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx, oropharynx and hypopharynx constitutes a majority of head neck malignancies. The incidence-based mortality across different races has been noted to be divergent. This study analyzes the trend in incidence-based mortality from the years 2000 to 2017 amongst both the genders in Caucasian/White and African American/Black patients.Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Database was queried to conduct a nation-wide analysis for the years 2000 to 2017. Incidence-based mortality for all stages of nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer was queried and the results were grouped by race (Caucasian/White, African American/Black, American Indian/Alaskan native and Asian/Pacific Islander) and gender. All stages and ages were included in the analysis. t-test was used to determine statistically significant differences between various subgroups. Linearized trend lines were used to visualize the mortality trends of all sub groups.Results: Across all races, the male to female gender disparity in mortality was ∼ 1:3 in patients with nasopharynx and became worse to ∼ 1:4 and ∼ 1:5 for patients with oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers, respectively. Notably, the highest incidence-based mortality for nasopharyngeal cancers is seen in Asian/pacific Islander males and a similar peak is noted for hypopharyngeal cancers in African American/Black males. Incidence-based mortality rates (per 1000) for nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer of all races and both the genders was noted to be divergent.Conclusion: A significant gender disparity exists in all three pharyngeal cancers across all races. It is unclear if female gender is protective but further study is warranted in a stage-specific and age-specific manner to better understand this disparity.Keywords: cancer, mortality, race, gender