Enrollment on upfront high-risk neuroblastoma trials by race, ethnicity, and poverty status: A report from the Children's Oncology Group.

It is not clear whether trial access disparities exist in the Children's Oncology Group (COG). Here, we leverage a cohort of children with high-risk neuroblastoma (HR-NBL) enrolled on the COG ANBL00B1 neuroblastoma biology study to examine subsequent enrollment to upfront COG therapeutic trials by race, ethnicity, and proxied poverty status. Among 1917 children with HR-NBL enrolled on ANBL00B1, 696 (36.3%) subsequently enrolled on an upfront therapeutic trial with no difference by race, ethnicity, or proxied poverty status. In neuroblastoma, trial access disparities are not comparable to adult oncology, and efforts to advance equity should prioritize other mechanisms of survival disparities.

A comprehensive analysis of neuroblastoma incidence, survival, and racial and ethnic disparities from 2001 to 2019.

BACKGROUND: We characterize the incidence and 5-year survival of children and adolescents with neuroblastoma stratified by demographic and clinical factors based on the comprehensive data from United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) and the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR). METHODS: We analyzed the incidence of neuroblastoma from USCS (2003-2019) and survival data from NPCR (2001-2018) for patients less than 20 years old. Incidence trends were calculated by average annual percent change (AAPC) using joinpoint regression. Differences in relative survival were estimated comparing non-overlapping confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: We identified 11,543 primary neuroblastoma cases in USCS. Age-adjusted incidence was 8.3 per million persons [95% CI: 8.2, 8.5], with an AAPC of 0.4% [95% CI: -0.1, 0.9]. Five-year relative survival from the NPCR dataset (n = 10,676) was 79.7% [95% CI: 78.9, 80.5]. Patients aged less than 1 year had the highest 5-year relative survival (92.5%). Five-year relative survival was higher for non-Hispanic White patients (80.7%) or Hispanic patients (80.8%) compared to non-Hispanic Black patients (72.6%). CONCLUSION: Neuroblastoma incidence was stable during 2003-2019. Differences in relative survival exist by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and stage; patients who were male, older, non-Hispanic Black, or with distant disease had worse survival. Future studies could seek to assess the upstream factors driving disparities in survival, and evaluate interventions to address inequities and improve survival across all groups.

Healthcare utilization disparities among children with high-risk neuroblastoma treated on Children's Oncology Group clinical trials.

INTRODUCTION: Disparities in relapse and survival from high-risk neuroblastoma (HRNBL) persist among children from historically marginalized groups even in highly standardized clinical trial settings. Research in other cancers has identified differential treatment toxicity as one potential underlying mechanism. Whether racial and ethnic disparities in treatment-associated toxicity exist in HRNBL is poorly understood. METHODS: This is a retrospective study utilizing a previously assembled merged cohort of children with HRNBL on Children's Oncology Group (COG) post-consolidation immunotherapy trials ANBL0032 and ANBL0931 at Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) centers from 2005 to 2014. Race and ethnicity were categorized to reflect historically marginalized populations as Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black (NHB), non-Hispanic other (NHO), and non-Hispanic White (NHW). Associations between race-ethnicity and intensive care unit (ICU)-level care utilization as a proxy for treatment-associated toxicity were examined with log binomial regression and summarized as risk ratio (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: The analytic cohort included 370 children. Overall, 88 (23.8%) patients required ICU-level care for a median of 3.0 days (interquartile range [IQR]: 1.0-6.5 days). Hispanic children had nearly three times the risk of ICU-level care (RR 3.1, 95% CI: 2.1-4.5; fully adjusted RR [aRR] 2.5, 95% CI: 1.6-3.7) compared to NHW children and the highest percentage of children requiring cardiovascular-driven ICU-level care. CONCLUSION: Children of Hispanic ethnicity with HRNBL receiving clinical trial-delivered therapy were more likely to experience ICU-level care compared to NHW children. These data suggest that further investigation of treatment-related toxicity as a modifiable mechanism underlying outcome disparities is warranted.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation gaps within a pediatric leukemia clinical trial cohort.

Poverty-exposed children with cancer are more likely to experience adverse outcomes. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits improve food insecurity and child health outcomes, and could be used to mitigate disparities. We conducted a secondary analysis of parent-reported data collected in a frontline pediatric leukemia trial (NCT03020030) to assess SNAP eligibility (proxied by other means-tested program participation) and participation. At diagnosis, 105/287 families (37%) were SNAP-eligible, of whom 53 (50%) were SNAP participants. At 6 months, 104/257 families (41%) were SNAP-eligible, and 59 (57%) were SNAP participants. Interventions to increase benefits participation during childhood cancer treatment represent an immediate opportunity to reduce disparities.

"It's a lot of things": Household material hardship among Black and Hispanic parents of children with cancer.

Household material hardship (HMH)-housing, food, transportation, or utility insecurity-is an adverse social determinant of health that is modifiable in the clinical setting. This mixed-methods, single-center study explored the experiences of HMH among Black and Hispanic pediatric oncology parents utilizing a single timepoint survey (N = 60) and semi-structured interviews (N = 20 purposively sampled subcohort). Forty-four (73%) parents reported HMH. Qualitatively, participants expressed stress, anxiety, and embarrassment due to unmet basic resource needs, and childcare emerged as an additional important domain of HMH. Participants recommend a standardized approach to HMH screening and resource allocation, offering insight into targets for future intervention.

"The simple life experiences that every other human gets": Desire for normalcy among adolescents and young adults with advanced cancer.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with advanced cancer identify normalcy as an important component of quality end-of-life care. We sought to define domains of normalcy and identify ways in which clinicians facilitate or hinder normalcy during advanced cancer care. PROCEDURE: This was a secondary analysis of a qualitative study that aimed to identify priority domains for end-of-life care. Content analysis of semi-structured interviews among AYAs aged 12-39 years with advanced cancer, caregivers, and clinicians was used to evaluate transcripts. Coded excerpts were reviewed to identify themes related to normalcy. RESULTS: Participants included 23 AYAs with advanced cancer, 28 caregivers, and 29 clinicians. Participants identified five domains of normalcy including relationships, activities, career/school, milestones, and appearance. AYAs and caregivers identified that clinicians facilitate normalcy through exploration of these domains with AYAs, allowing flexibility in care plans, identification of short-term and long-term goals across normalcy domains, and recognizing losses of normalcy that occur during cancer care. CONCLUSIONS: AYAs with cancer experience multiple threats to normalcy during advanced cancer care. Clinicians can attend to normalcy and improve AYA quality of life by acknowledging these losses through ongoing discussions on how best to support domains of normalcy and by reinforcing AYA identities beyond a cancer diagnosis.

Feasibility of oncology clinical trial-embedded evaluation of social determinants of health.

Social determinants of health (SDoH) are associated with stark disparities in cancer outcomes, but systematic SDoH data collection is virtually absent from oncology clinical trials. Trial-based SDoH data are essential to ensure representation of marginalized populations, contextualize outcome disparities, and identify health-equity intervention opportunities. We report the feasibility of a pediatric oncology multicenter therapeutic trial-embedded SDoH investigation. Among 448 trial participants, 392 (87.5%) opted-in to the embedded SDoH study; 375 (95.7%) completed baseline surveys, with high longitudinal response rates (88.9-93.1%) over 24 months. Trial-embedded SDoH data collection is feasible and acceptable and must be consistently included within future oncology trials.

Race, ethnicity, and goal-concordance of end-of-life palliative care in pediatric oncology.

BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic minority children with cancer disproportionately receive intensive care at the end of life (EOL). It is not known whether these differences are goal-concordant or disparities. The authors sought to explore patterns of pediatric palliative care (PPC) and health care utilization in pediatric oncology patients receiving subspecialty palliative care at the end-of-life (last 6 months) and to examine goal-concordance of location of death in a subset of these patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of pediatric oncology patients receiving subspecialty palliative care at a single large tertiary care center who died between January 2013 and March 2017. RESULTS: A total of 115 patients including 71 White, non-Hispanic patients and 44 non-White patients (including 12 Black patients and 21 Hispanic patients) were included in the analytic cohort. There were no significant differences in oncologic diagnosis, cause of death, or health care utilization in the last 6 months of life. White and non-White patients had similar PPC utilization including time from initial consult to death and median number of PPC encounters. Non-White patients were significantly more likely to die in the hospital compared to White patients (68% vs 46%, P = .03). Analysis of a subcohort with documented preferences (n = 45) revealed that 91% of White patients and 93% of non-White patients died in their preferred location of death. CONCLUSIONS: Although non-White children with cancer were more likely to die in the hospital, this difference was goal-concordant in our cohort. Subspecialty PPC access may contribute to the achievement of goal-concordant EOL care.

PediCARE: Development of a poverty-targeted intervention for pediatric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Poverty is associated with inferior psychosocial outcomes, higher rates of relapse, and decreased overall survival in children with cancer. Despite this, there are few evidence-based, poverty-targeted interventions and none specific to pediatric oncology. To address this gap, we developed and refined the Pediatric Cancer Resource Equity (PediCARE) intervention, a household material hardship (HMH) targeted intervention providing transportation and groceries to pediatric oncology families. METHODS: This was a single-arm pilot study conducted at a single, large, tertiary pediatric cancer center. Newly diagnosed patients with HMH-exposure were directly assigned to receive PediCARE for a total of three months. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to evaluate its acceptability and to rapidly refine the intervention. RESULTS: Nine families (100% of those approached) consented to enrollment with no attrition over the three-month study period. Families were highly satisfied with the intervention and recommended participation to others. All of the families utilized the grocery delivery component of PediCARE, and seven utilized the transportation component. Qualitative participant feedback was used to rapidly refine the intervention including logistics of intervention delivery, and dose of intervention components. CONCLUSION: PediCARE, a poverty-targeted intervention, was highly acceptable to pediatric oncology families. The intervention was refined in real-time utilizing quantitative and qualitative feedback. Next steps include intervention evaluation in a randomized, controlled feasibility study.

Disparities in pediatric psychosocial oncology utilization.

BACKGROUND: Integratedbehavioral health models have been proposed as care delivery approaches to mitigate mental health disparities in primary care settings. However, these models have not yet been widely adopted or evaluated in pediatric oncology medical homes. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 394 children with newly diagnosed cancer at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center (DF/BCH) from April 2013 to January 2017. Baseline sociodemographic characteristics and psychiatry utilization outcomes at 12 months following diagnosis were abstracted from the medical record. The severity of household material hardship (HMH), a concrete poverty exposure, at diagnosis and race/ethnicity were characterized by parent report using the Psychosocial Assessment Tool 2.0 (PAT). Associations between sociodemographic characteristics and receipt of psychiatry consultation were assessed with multivariable logistic regression models. RESULTS: Among 394 children, 29% received a psychiatric consultation within 12 months postdiagnosis. Of these, 88% received a new psychiatric diagnosis, 76% received a psychopharmacologic recommendation, and 62% received a new behavioral intervention recommendation. In multivariable logistic regression adjusting for age, cancer diagnosis, and PAT total score, there was no statistically significant association between HMH severity or household income and psychiatry utilization. Children who identified as racial/ethnic minorities were significantly less likely to receive a psychiatry consultation (OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.27-0.84). CONCLUSIONS: In a pediatric oncology medical home with an integrated behavioral health model, socioeconomic status was not associated with disparate psychiatry utilization. However, there remained a profound racial/ethnic disparity in psychiatry utilization, highlighting the need for additional research and care delivery intervention.

Maternal Preferences for Vitamin D Supplementation in Breastfed Infants.

Daily vitamin D supplementation is recommended for breastfed infants, but alternative methods include enriching breast milk with vitamin D through maternal supplementation or intermittent high-dose vitamin D. We determined maternal preferences for vitamin D supplementation in 140 mothers with exclusively breastfed infants, and 44 who used both breast and formula milk. Only 101 (55%) supplemented their infants with vitamin D. One hundred sixty (88%) preferred supplementing themselves rather than their infants, and 102 (57%) preferred daily to monthly supplementation. Safety was most important in choosing a method of supplementation. Taking maternal preferences into consideration may improve adequate intakes of vitamin D in breastfed infants.

Asthma and risk of breakthrough varicella infection in children.

BACKGROUND: We recently reported a more rapid waning of vaccine-induced humoral immunity (measles vaccine) in children with asthma. It is unknown if asthma affects susceptibility to vaccine-preventable diseases. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether asthma is associated with an increased risk of vaccine-preventable disease, e.g., breakthrough varicella infection. METHODS: This was a retrospective population-based case-control study that examined cases of breakthrough varicella among children between 2005 and 2011. Children with a diagnosis of breakthrough varicella infection in Olmsted County, Minnesota (infection of >42 days after vaccination) between 2005 and 2011 and two age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled for each case. Asthma status was determined by using predetermined criteria. Conditional logistic regression models were used to calculate matched odds ratios (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Of the 165 cases and their 330 matched controls, 48% were boys and the mean (standard deviation) age at the index date was 6.6 ± 3.5 years for both cases and controls. Of the 330 controls, 80 (24%) had two doses of the varicella vaccine compared with only 23 (14%) of the 165 cases (OR 0.29 [95% CI, 0.14-0.61]; p = 0.001). Children with a history of asthma ever had a higher risk of developing breakthrough varicella compared with those without a history of asthma (adjusted OR 1.63 [95% CI, 1.04-2.55]; p = 0.032) when adjusting for elapsed time since the first varicella vaccination and the number of varicella vaccine doses. CONCLUSIONS: A history of asthma might be an unrecognized risk factor for breakthrough varicella infection. Children with asthma should follow the two-dose varicella vaccine policy.

Disparities in parental distress in a multicenter clinical trial for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Parent psychological distress during childhood cancer treatment has short- and long-term implications for parent, child, and family well-being. Identifying targetable predictors of parental distress is essential to inform interventions. We investigated the association between household material hardship (HMH), a modifiable poverty-exposure defined as housing, food, or utility insecurity, and severe psychological distress among parents of children aged 1-17 years with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) enrolled on the multicenter Dana-Farber ALL Consortium Trial 16-001. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of parent-reported data. Parents completed an HMH survey within 32 days of clinical trial enrollment (T0) and again at 6 months into therapy (T1). The primary exposure was HMH at T0 and primary outcome was severe parental distress at T0 and T1, defined as a score greater than or equal to 13 on the Kessler-6 Psychological Distress Scale. Multivariable models were adjusted for ALL risk group and single parent status. RESULTS: Among 375 evaluable parents, one-third (32%; n = 120/375) reported HMH at T0. In multivariable analyses, T0 HMH was associated with over twice the odds of severe psychological distress at T0 and T1 HMH was associated with over 5 times the odds of severe distress at T1. CONCLUSIONS: Despite uniform clinical trial treatment of their children at well-resourced pediatric centers, HMH-exposed parents-compared with unexposed parents-experienced statistically significantly increased odds of severe psychological distress at the time of their child's leukemia diagnosis, which worsened 6 months into therapy. These data identify a high-risk parental population who may benefit from early psychosocial and HMH-targeted interventions to mitigate disparities in well-being.

Missing Voices: Lessons Learned from Nonparticipating Caregivers in Palliative Care Research.

Background: Our previous study to understand end-of-life care of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) had a suboptimal survey response rate by bereaved caregivers. Objective: To identify sociodemographic factors associated with caregiver nonparticipation. Design/Setting/Subjects:Post hoc analysis of a retrospective multicenter cohort study of caregivers of deceased AYAs from 2013 to 2016. Measurements: Exposures: race, ethnicity, area-, and household-poverty. Primary outcome: survey participation. Secondary outcomes: loss to follow-up at each recruitment step. Results: Thirty-five of 263 eligible caregivers participated in the survey (13.3%). Caregivers of AYAs living in high-poverty zip codes were significantly more likely to have a disconnected or incorrect phone number (odds ratio [OR] 2.12; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-4.58; p = 0.03). Caregivers of nonwhite AYAs were significantly less likely to participate (OR 0.35; 95% CI 0.12-0.87; p = 0.01). Conclusions: Caregivers of patients living in poverty are less likely to be reached by traditional recruitment efforts. Caregivers of racial/ethnic minority patients are less likely to participate overall.

Providing Groceries and Transportation to Poverty-Exposed Pediatric Oncology Families: The PediCARE Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.

This randomized clinical trial evaluates the Pediatric Cancer Resource Equity (PediCARE) intervention, which provided groceries and transportation, vs usual care, for poverty-exposed pediatric oncology families.