Patient-reported symptom burden in routine oncology care: Examining racial and ethnic disparities.
Cancer Rep (Hoboken)
; 5(3): e1478, 2022 03.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34165256
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Racial and ethnic disparities are well-documented in cancer outcomes such as disease progression and survival, but less is known regarding potential disparities in symptom burden.AIMS:
The goal of this retrospective study was to examine differences in symptom burden by race and ethnicity in a large sample of cancer patients. We hypothesized that racial and ethnic minority patients would report greater symptom burden than non-Hispanic and White patients. METHODS ANDRESULTS:
A total of 5798 cancer patients completed the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale-revised (ESAS-r-CSS) at least once as part of clinical care. Two indicators of symptom burden were evaluated (1) total ESAS-r-CSS score (i.e., overall symptom burden) and (2) number of severe symptoms (i.e., severe symptomatology). For patients completing the ESAS-r-CSS on multiple occasions, the highest score for each indicator was used. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression analyses were conducted, adjusting for other sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Symptomology varied across race. Patients who self-identified as Black reported higher symptom burden (p = .016) and were more likely to report severe symptoms (p < .001) than self-identified White patients. Patients with "other" race were also more likely to report severe symptoms than White patients (p = .032), but reported similar total symptom burden (p = .315). Asian and Hispanic patients did not differ from White or non-Hispanic patients on symptom burden (ps > .05).CONCLUSION:
This study describes racial disparities in patient-reported symptom burden during routine oncology care, primarily observed in Black patients. Clinic-based electronic symptom monitoring may be useful to detect high symptom burden, particularly in patients who self-identify their race as Black or other. Future research is needed to reduce symptom burden in racially diverse cancer populations.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Etnicidad
/
Grupos Minoritarios
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Año:
2022
Tipo del documento:
Article