Analysis of race and gender disparities in mortality trends from patients diagnosed with nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer from 2000 to 2017

Varsha Chiruvella, Achuta Kumar Guddati

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Squamous cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx, oropharynx and hypopharynx constitutes a majority of head neck malignancies. The incidence-based mortality across different races has been noted to be divergent. This study analyzes the trend in incidence-based mortality from the years 2000 to 2017 amongst both the genders in Caucasian/White and African American/Black patients. Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Database was queried to conduct a nation-wide analysis for the years 2000 to 2017. Incidence-based mortality for all stages of nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer was queried and the results were grouped by race (Caucasian/White, African American/Black, American Indian/ Alaskan native and Asian/Pacific Islander) and gender. All stages and ages were included in the analysis. t-test was used to determine statistically significant differences between various subgroups. Linearized trend lines were used to visualize the mortality trends of all sub groups. Results: Across all races, the male to female gender disparity in mortality was ~1:3 in patients with nasopharynx and became worse to ~1:4 and ~1:5 for patients with oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers, respectively. Notably, the highest incidence-based mortality for nasopharyngeal cancers is seen in Asian/pacific Islander males and a similar peak is noted for hypopharyngeal cancers in African American/Black males. Incidence-based mortality rates (per 1000) for nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer of all races and both the genders was noted to be divergent. Conclusion: A significant gender disparity exists in all three pharyngeal cancers across all races. It is unclear if female gender is protective but further study is warranted in a stage-specific and age-specific manner to better understand this disparity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6315-6323
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of General Medicine
Volume14
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Cancer
  • Gender
  • Mortality
  • Race

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Analysis of race and gender disparities in mortality trends from patients diagnosed with nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer from 2000 to 2017'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this