Patients with cervical cancer have better survival outcomes if they receive treatment at a National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center, according to a study published in Cancer.
This survival advantage cannot be explained by adherence to treatment guidelines or patient age, race/ethnicity, or insurance status, the study suggests.
The study included data on 4250 patients from the California Cancer Registry. The patients were diagnosed with primary invasive cervical cancer from 2004 through 2016 and were treated with radiotherapy.
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One-third of the patients (n=1395) were treated at an NCI center. For all patients, the median age at baseline was 50 (interquartile range [IQR], 41-61) years, and the median follow-up was 2.7 (IQR, 1.3-6.0) years.
The rate of cancer-specific death was 29% for the entire cohort, 25% for patients treated at an NCI cancer center, and 31% for patients treated at another location.
In an age-adjusted model, patients treated at an NCI center had a 20% lower risk of cervical cancer-specific death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.80; 95% CI, 0.70-0.90; P =.0003).
A similar survival advantage was observed for the NCI-treated group in a model adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, and insurance status (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.72-0.92; P =.0011) and in a model adjusted for the aforementioned variables as well as guideline-concordant treatment (HR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.74-0.95; P =.0050).
“After our robust analysis and modeling, none of the clinicopathologic nor demographic factors we examined contributed to this survival benefit seen at an [NCI center],” the researchers wrote.
They suggested that other factors in care and/or social determinants of patients who are able to receive treatment at NCI cancer centers may explain the observed survival advantage.
Disclosures: This research was supported by the National Cancer Institute. One study author declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures.
Reference
McDaniels-Davidson C, Feng CH, Martinez ME, et al. Improved survival in cervical cancer patients receiving care at National Cancer Institute–designated cancer centers. Cancer. Published online August 2, 2022. doi:10.1002/cncr.34404
