Survival differences by race and surgical approach in early-stage operable cervical Cancer

To evaluate if the higher rate of open radical hysterectomy in Black patients, prior to the widespread return to open surgical techniques, mitigated survival disparities and to identify other actionable factors to target for systemic change.

This is a retrospective cohort study including patients from the National Cancer Database with cervical cancer who underwent radical hysterectomy from 2010 to 2018. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics and survival were compared by race and surgical route. Kaplan-Meier plots were constructed. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to adjust for covariates.

7201 patients were eligible for inclusion, 687 (9.5%) Black and 4870 (68%) White. We found that 51% of Black patients and 39% of White patients underwent open surgery. Black patients were 10% less likely to receive Guideline Concordant Care (GCC). Those with publicly-funded insurance had a 40% higher hazard of death compared to private insurance (CI 1.19-1.73 p < 0.001). Black patients who had open surgery had similar 5-year survival compared to White patients who had MIS surgery (0.90 vs 0.91, NS). After adjusting for potential confounders including age, insurance, nodal status, and lymphovascular space invasion, Black patients who had surgery had a 40% higher hazard for death (HR 1.40 95% CI 1.10-1.79, p = 0.007) compared to White patients.

A lower 5 and 10-year survival was seen in Black patients, regardless of surgical approach. Adjustment for significant covariates did not resolve this disparity, confirming that these factors do not fully account racial disparities.