Health Disparities among Patients with Cancer Who Received Molecular Testing for Biomarker-Directed Therapy.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Genomics
• Health Disparities Research

Background:

• Health disparities significantly impede successful cancer treatment outcomes.
• The role of precision oncology in mitigating these disparities remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the impact of molecular testing on health disparities in oncology.
• To investigate the relationship between genomic features, patient demographics, and overall survival.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 12,627 patients from six cancer centers (2010-2020) with molecular tumor testing.
• Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression for overall survival analysis.
• Chi-squared and ANOVA tests for molecular and demographic feature analysis.

Main Results:

• Patients undergoing molecular testing exhibited minimal outcome differences based on race, location, or poverty.
• Racial disparities were primarily observed in young non-White women within the tested cohort, and more broadly in the general population.
• Mutations in APC, EGFR, STK11, TP53, and KRAS affected survival, with race-specific prevalence in certain tumor types.

Conclusions:

• Molecular testing is associated with reduced racial health disparities in cancer patients compared to the general population.
• Age and sex significantly influence persistent racial disparities, necessitating tumor lineage-specific examination.
• Expanding access to molecular testing may enhance health equity and improve cancer outcomes for all patients.