Hispanic lung cancer patients have higher survival than non-Hispanic white patients

This study evaluated the records of 14,829 Hispanic patients from the CCR from 1988-2008. Foreign-born Hispanics had a 14 percent decreased risk for death compared to U.S.-born Hispanic patients, including individual patient factors and clinical factors. Adjustments for neighborhood factors, specifically socioeconomic status and ethnicity, slightly moderated the significant decrease in death risk among foreign-born Hispanics. The data also indicates that foreign-born Hispanics who lived in the least U.S.-assimilated neighborhoods had the better overall survival.

"The results of this study confirm the 'Hispanic paradox' of improved survival rates for Hispanic/Latino NSCLC patients compared to non-Hispanic white patients, despite lower socio-economic status," said lead author Manali Patel, MD, a post-doctoral fellow in the hematology/oncology department at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif. "Social and neighborhood factors, in addition to being foreign-born, appear to be positive contributing factors to incidence and survival that need further study."

More information: The abstract, "How Do Social Factors Explain Outcomes in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Among Hispanic/Latinos in California?" will be presented during the Poster Discussion at 5:30 p.m., Central time on September 6, 2012.

Provided by American Society for Radiation Oncology