Survival differences of Asian and Caucasian epithelial ovarian cancer patients in the United States

Abstract

Objective: To compare the racial differences in treatment and survival of Asian-Americans and White patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

Methods: Data were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program between 1988 and 2009 and analyzed using Chi-squared tests, Kaplan-Meier methods, and Cox regression analysis.

Results: Of the 52,260 women, 3932 (7.5%) were coded as Asian, and 48,328 (92.5%) were White. The median age of Asians at diagnosis was 56 vs. 64 years for the Whites (p<0.001). Asians were more likely to undergo primary surgery, have an earlier stage of disease, have a diagnosis of a non-serous histology, and have lower grade tumors. The 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) of Asians was higher compared to Whites (59.1% vs. 47.3%, p<0.001). On a subset analysis, Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Asian Indian/Pakistani ethnicities had 5-year DSS of 62.1%, 61.5%, 61.0%, 59.0%, 54.6%, and 48.2%, respectively (p=0.015). On multivariate analysis, age at diagnosis, year of diagnosis, race, surgery, stage, and tumor grade were all independent prognostic factors for survival. Asians were further stratified to U.S. born versus those who were born in Asia and immigrated. Asian immigrants presented at a younger age compared to U.S. born Asians. Immigrants were found to have an improved 5-year DSS when compared to U.S. born Asians and Whites of 55%, 52%, and 48%, respectively (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Asians were more likely to be younger, undergo primary surgery, have an earlier stage of disease, non-serous histology, lower grade tumors, and higher survival.

Keywords: Immigrants; Ovarian cancer; Racial differences; Survival outcomes.