Pediatric Ewing Sarcoma Presentation, Treatment, and Outcomes Across Sociodemographic Groups

Abstract

Introduction: In this study, we evaluate the association between sociodemographics and disease presentation, treatment, and survival for children, adolescents, and young adults with Ewing sarcoma.

Methods: Case-level data were downloaded from The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Cases included patients ages 0-24 who were diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma between 2004 and 2020.

Results: One thousand two hundred forty four patients were included in the analysis. When compared to non-Hispanic White (NHW) patients, Hispanic patients were more likely to present with tumors ≥8 cm (odds ratio (OR) = 1.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.24-2.36) and metastases (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.23-2.20). Black patients were less likely to receive chemotherapy (OR = 0.25, 95% CI = 0.07-0.97). The 5-year disease-specific survival rate was 73% for NHW patients, 65% for Black patients, 67% for Asian patients and 66% for Hispanic patients. When accounting for confounding factors, Hispanic and Asian patients had higher probabilities of death due to cancer compared to NHW patients (HR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.10-1.81; HR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.09-2.48, respectively). Young adults and adolescents were significantly more likely to present with metastases, experience ≥1 month between diagnosis and treatment, and had lower survival.

Conclusions: Significant differences in Ewing sarcoma presentation, treatment, and survival were observed across age groups and race/ethnicity. Future work should focus on expanding access to care in underserved groups. Further qualitative studies could assist in determining the exact factors that prevent patients from accessing care or examine how genetic factors that contribute to Ewing sarcoma severity differ across demographic groups.

Keywords: Ewing sarcoma; Pediatric; Pediatric cancer; Pediatric surgery; Sarcoma; Surgical oncology.