Socioeconomic Factors Affect Treatment Selection, Outcomes in Early-Stage Hodgkin Lymphoma

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers from The Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, have found that socioeconomic factors affect selection of curative treatments in Hodgkin lymphoma.

For the study, researchers sought to identify factors affecting treatment selection and resulting survival outcomes in patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma in the United States. Researchers identified 20,600 patients treated with combined-modality therapy or chemotherapy between 2003 and 2011 from the National Cancer Data Base.

Results showed that only 49.5% of those treated between 2003 and 2011 received combined-modality therapy. This proportion was found to have steadily declined, particularly in younger patients. Researchers found that treatment selection was significantly influenced by black race, sex, distance to facility, and type of insurance. 

Those who were uninsured were least likely to receive combined-modality therapy. Combined-modality therapy was found to be associated with better overall survival and relative survival compared with chemotherapy alone.

The findings suggest that socioeconomic factors affect selection of curative treatment approaches in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, thereby possibly affect survival of these patients.

The authors note that strategies should be developed to minimize toxicity and access disparities without diminishing survival.