Social Determinants of Health and Racial Disparities in Cardiac Events in Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Racial disparities have been reported for breast cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes. The determinants of racial disparities in CVD outcomes are not yet fully understood. We aimed to examine the impact of individual and neighborhood-level social determinants of health (SDOH) on the racial disparities in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; consisting of heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, atrial fibrillation, and ischemic stroke) among female patients with breast cancer. METHODS: This 10-year longitudinal retrospective study was based on a cancer informatics platform with electronic medical record supplementation. We included women aged ≥18 years diagnosed with breast cancer. SDOH were obtained from LexisNexis, and consisted of the domains of social and community context, neighborhood and built environment, education access and quality, and economic stability. Race-agnostic (overall data with race as a feature) and race-specific machine learning models were developed to account for and rank the SDOH impact in 2-year MACE. RESULTS: We included 4,309 patients (765 non-Hispanic Black [NHB]; 3,321 non-Hispanic white). In the race-agnostic model (C-index, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.78-0.80), the 5 most important adverse SDOH variables were neighborhood median household income (SHapley Additive exPlanations [SHAP] score [SS], 0.07), neighborhood crime index (SS = 0.06), number of transportation properties in the household (SS = 0.05), neighborhood burglary index (SS = 0.04), and neighborhood median home values (SS = 0.03). Race was not significantly associated with MACE when adverse SDOH were included as covariates (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.91-1.64). NHB patients were more likely to have unfavorable SDOH conditions for 8 of the 10 most important SDOH variables for the MACE prediction. CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhood and built environment variables are the most important SDOH predictors for 2-year MACE, and NHB patients were more likely to have unfavorable SDOH conditions. This finding reinforces that race is a social construct.

Sex Differences in Lung Cancer Treatment and Outcomes at a Large Hybrid Academic-Community Practice.

Introduction: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death and the second most often diagnosed malignancy worldwide. Males have higher incidence of lung cancer and higher mortality. It is hypothesized that the sex differences in survival are primarily driven by a better response of females to treatment. The primary objective of this work is to analyze and describe outcome differences between males and females diagnosed with having lung cancer. Methods: Data were obtained from a large hybrid academic-community practice institution and validated with Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER). The initial cohort included patients aged more than or equal to 18 years diagnosed with having primary malignant lung cancer. Patients were excluded from the analysis if they had an unknown diagnosis date, were missing sex, or had prior history of cancer. Chi-square, t test, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare characteristics of males and females. Risks were estimated by logistic and Cox regressions. Results: A total of 8909 patients from our institution and 725,018 in SEER were analyzed. Male-to-female ratio was 1.0. Females were more likely to undergo surgery and less likely to be treated with immunotherapy. Females had higher rates of documented psychological affections, depression, anxiety, urinary tract infection, hypothyroidism, and hyperthyroidism, while displaying lower rates of acute kidney injury, myocardial infarction, and myocarditis. Paired multivariable models revealed a lower risk of death for females in SEER (hazard ratio for females = 0.84, confidence interval: 0.69-1.02, p = 0.08) and equal risks in our institution (hazard ratio for females = 0.84, confidence interval: 0.69-1.02, p = 0.08). Conclusions: Female sex was associated with higher surgical rates, lower immunotherapy use rates, higher rates of endocrinologic complications after immunotherapy use, and higher rates of psychological disorders.

Sex differences in esophageal cancer overall and by histological subtype.

Esophageal cancer is the seventh most common type of cancer in the world, the sixth leading cause of cancer-related death and its incidence is expected to rise 140% in the world in a period of 10 years until 2025. The overall incidence is higher in males, while data about prognosis and survival are not well established yet. The goal of this study was to carry out a comprehensive analysis of differences between sexes and other covariates in patients diagnosed with primary esophageal cancer. Data from 2005 to 2020 were obtained from the University Hospitals (UH) Seidman Cancer Center and from 2005 to 2018 from SEER. Patients were categorized according to histological subtype and divided according to sex. Pearson Chi-square test was used to compare variables of interest by sex and the influence of sex on survival was assessed by Kaplan Meier, log rank tests and Cox proportional hazards regression models. A total of 1205 patients were used for analysis. Sex differences in all types were found for age at diagnosis, histology, smoking status and prescriptions of NSAIDs and in SCC for age at diagnosis and alcoholism. Survival analysis didn't showed differences between males and females on univariable and multivariable models. Males have a higher incidence of Esophageal Cancer and its two main subtypes but none of the comprehensive set of variables analyzed showed to be strongly or unique correlated with this sex difference in incidence nor are they associated with a sex difference in survival.