Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in the Treatments and Outcomes of Pancreatic Cancer Among Different Treatment Facility Types

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate racial and socioeconomic disparities for patients with pancreatic cancer across different facility types. Methods The National Cancer Database was queried for pancreatic cancer cases from 2004 to 2015. Along with propensity score matching analysis, multivariate logistic and Cox model were used to assess effects of facility type, race, elements of socioeconomics on receipt of treatment, time to treatment, and overall survival, separately. Results Among 223,465 patients, 44.6%, 42.1%, and 13.3% were treated at academic, community, and integrated facilities, respectively. Private insurance was associated with more treatment (odds ratio, 1.41; P < 0.001) and better survival [hazards ratio (HR), 0.84; P < 0.001]. Higher education was associated with earlier treatment (HR, 1.09; P < 0.001). African Americans had less treatment (odds ratio, 0.97; P = 0.04) and delayed treatment (HR, 0.89; P < 0.001) despite later stage at diagnosis. After adjusting for socioeconomic status, African Americans had similar survival (HR, 0.99; P = 0.11) overall and improved survival (HR, 0.95; P = 0.016) at integrated facilities. Conclusions Higher socioeconomic status was associated with better treatment and survival. After adjusting for socioeconomic disparities, race did not affect survival. Less racial disparity was observed at integrated facilities.