Testicular cancer: a 13-year retrospective review of ethnic disparities in the Waikato region, New Zealand.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The testicular cancer incidence in New Zealand is rising. We evaluated if testicular cancer outcomes differed by ethnicity in NZ. AIMS: To study if ethnic disparities existed among testicular cancer patients and their outcomes treated at Waikato Regional Cancer Centre. METHODS: Retrospective review of testicular cancer cases in the Medical Oncology database, Waikato Hospital, between 2001 and 2013 inclusive. RESULTS: Three hundred and twenty-five patients were seen, with median follow up of survivors being 101 (range 13-230) months. 95 (29.2%) were Maori, 210 (64.6%) NZ European and 20 (6.1%) of other ethnicity. One hundred and eighty-two patients were diagnosed with seminoma and 143 with non-seminoma. Maori represented 27.5% of seminoma and 31.4% of non-seminoma patients. Median age at diagnosis was 39 years for seminoma and 30 years for non-seminoma; Maori were significantly younger than non- Maori for both seminoma (median age 35 versus 42 years) and non-seminoma (median age 28 vs 34 years, respectively). While stage distribution of seminoma at diagnosis was similar for Maori and non-Maori (chi-squared P = 0.31), significantly more Maori had higher-stage non-seminoma than non-Maori (stage III in 44% and 22%, respectively, chi-squared P = 0.014). Survival for seminoma (logrank P = 0.19) and non-seminoma (logrank P = 0.89) patients did not differ significantly by ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Maori patients were younger at diagnosis of testicular cancer and presented with more advanced non-seminoma testicular tumours compared with non-Maori but survival was comparable.