Analysis of trends in race and gender disparities in incidence-based mortality in patients diagnosed with soft tissue sarcomas from 2000 to 2016

Background: The clinical course of soft tissue sarcomas is often dependent on the grade of the tumor. The variability of incidence-based mortality in low-grade and high-grade soft tissue sarcomas (STS) with respect to gender and race over the past decade has not been well studied. This study analyzes the rates of incidence-based mortality from the years 2000 to 2016 amongst the grades, genders and racial groups of patients with STS. Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was queried to conduct a nation-wide analysis for the years 2000 to 2016. Incidence-based mortality for all stages of low-grade and high-grade soft tissue sarcomas was queried and the results were grouped by race (Caucasian/White vs African American/Black) and gender. All stages and ages were included in the analysis and trend from 2000 to 2016 was analyzed. Results: The incidence-based mortality rates for Caucasians are similar to African Americans in both grades and genders. Rates were not analyzed for American Indian and Asian/Pacific Islanders due to small sample size. Mortality rates of high-grade soft tissue sarcomas were significantly higher compared to low-grade tumors. A higher rate of mortality is noted in Caucasian males compared to African Americans males despite past observations of higher incidence in African Americans. There was no significant change in the rate when trended over the past decade (2007 to 2016). Conclusion: This study highlights the higher rate of incidence-based mortality in Caucasian males compared to African American males in the past 15 years despite a lower incidence reported in the 1995 to 2008 period. With no significant change in mortality rates/year noted during this time period, this study implies that soft tissue sarcomas in Caucasian males have worse outcomes. Further research is needed to understand the mechanism underlying this disparity.