The national cancer data base report on malignant epithelial ovarian carcinoma in African-American women

✍ Scribed by Groesbeck Parham; Jerri Linn Phillips; Michael L. Hicks; Nancy Andrews; Walter B. Jones; Hugh M. Shingleton; Herman R. Menck

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 279 KB
• Volume: 80
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19970815)80:4<816::aid-cncr21>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

Background:

Epithelial ovarian carcinoma is the fifth most common cause of cancer death among african-american women. although the incidence rate of ovarian carcinoma for whites is higher than that for african americans, the relative survival rate for african americans is poorer.

Methods:

Data were cases submitted to the national cancer data base for invasive epithelial tumors of the ovary diagnosed between 1985-1988 and 1990-1993. african-american women with epithelial ovarian carcinoma were compared with non-hispanic white women with the same disease. the groups of white women with which african-american women were compared were classified as "white-same facility" and "white-other facility." "white-same facility" were white patients from hospitals that contributed a substantial proportion of african-american patients. "white-other facility" were white patients from hospitals that contributed few or no african-american patients. no patient had a history of prior cancer.

Results:

African-american women with advanced invasive epithelial ovarian carcinoma were less often treated with combined surgery and chemotherapy and more often treated with chemotherapy only. african-american women were twice as likely as white women not to receive appropriate treatment. african-american women had poorer survival rates than white women from the same or different hospitals, regardless of income. among staged cases, african-american women were more often diagnosed with stage iv disease than either group of white women.

Conclusions:

The current study findings show that african-american women with advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma received less aggressive treatment than white women and had a poorer prognosis.