Racial/Ethnic Differences in Pediatric Brain Tumor Diagnoses in Patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate evidence for differences in pediatric brain tumor diagnoses by race and ethnicity using a cross-sectional study design in individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1).

Study design: Subjects with NF1 were ascertained from the NF1 Patient Registry Initiative and through a clinical record database of patients at a large academic medical center. Logistic regression was employed to calculate ORs and 95% CIs to analyze differences in the odds of brain tumor diagnosis by race (White, Black, Asian, other/unknown) and ethnic (Hispanic vs non-Hispanic) groups.

Results: Data from a total of 1546, 629, and 2038 individuals who were ascertained from the NF1 Patient Registry Initiative, clinical records, and pooled datasets were analyzed, respectively. After adjusting for birth year, we observed a significantly reduced odds of brain tumor diagnoses in individuals self-identified or clinically reported as Black (OR = 0.13, 95% CI 0.05-0.31), Asian (OR = 0.15, 95% CI 0.04-0.64), and other/unknown (OR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.41-0.93) race compared with those with reported as White race. There was no significant difference in the odds of pediatric brain tumor diagnosis by Hispanic ethnicity.

Conclusions: Consistent with prior smaller studies, these data suggest that pediatric brain tumor diagnoses vary by race in individuals with NF1. Reasons underlying observed differences by race warrant further investigation.