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Published on: October 17, 2025
Understanding disparities in leukemia: a national study.
M I Patel1, Y Ma, B S Mitchell
1Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 875 Blake Wilbur Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. tarheelmanali@gmail.com
Cancer Causes & Control : CCC
|September 14, 2012
Summary
Blacks and Hispanics experience higher mortality rates from acute leukemia compared to non-Hispanic whites. These disparities persist even after accounting for patient and genetic factors, indicating a need for further research into cancer outcome drivers.
Area of Science:
- Hematologic malignancies research
- Cancer disparities
- Population-based studies
Background:
- Solid tumor disparities are well-documented.
- Hematologic malignancy disparities remain underexplored at population levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between race/ethnicity and mortality in acute leukemia patients.
- To identify survival differences in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) based on race/ethnicity.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database (1999-2008) for 39,002 acute leukemia patients.
- Employed Kaplan-Meier curves for survival probability analysis by race/ethnicity.
- Conducted multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, adjusting for age, gender, diagnosis year, and genetic factors.
Main Results:
- Blacks (HR 1.17) and Hispanics (HR 1.13) showed significantly higher acute leukemia mortality than non-Hispanic whites.
- Disparities were more pronounced in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) than acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) for both Black and Hispanic populations.
- Adjustments for individual and genetic factors did not account for the observed mortality disparities.
Conclusions:
- Black and Hispanic individuals face poorer survival outcomes in acute leukemia compared to other racial groups.
- Further research is essential to elucidate the underlying causes of these cancer outcome disparities.
- Addressing these disparities is crucial for improving cancer care equity.
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