Racial disparity and prognosis in patients with mouth and oropharynx cancer in Brazil

ABSTRACT

Background: Oral and oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.Populations in situations of social vulnerability tend to have higher incidences of cancer, a higher proportion oflate diagnosis, greater difficulties in accessing health services, and, consequently, worse prognosis. The aim ofthis study was to evaluate the relationship between race/skin color and OPC prognosis in Brazil.Material and Methods: This is a cross-sectional epidemiological study using OPC data from the National CancerInstitute between the years 2000 and 2019. The selected variables were gender, race/skin color, age, education,smoking and alcohol consumption, stage of the disease and disease status at the end of the 1st treatment.Results: 154,214 cases were recorded. Black men, in the 6th decade of life, were the most affected population.Blacks had a lower level of education when compared to non-blacks (p<0.001). Blacks were more exposed tosmoking and alcohol consumption (p<0.001). At the time of diagnosis, the black population was at the most advanced stage when compared to non-blacks (p<0.001). At the end of the 1st treatment, more black patients haddisease in progression, as well as more black patients died (p<0.001). Conclusions: Blacks had a worse prognosisfor OPC in Brazil. Despite the limitations, these results are important to elucidate the scenario of health disparitiesin relation to the race/skin color of the Brazilian population. (AU)