ABSTRACT
Introduction: Our institution cares for a largely underserved urban population, treating about 120 children annually with radiation therapy;roughly 10% are referred for proton therapy elsewhere. COVID-19 led to some decreases in medical care due to uncertainties regarding the state of public health. The purpose of this study is to evaluate existing socioeconomic disparities using the University of Wisconsin Area Deprivation Index (ADI) and whether the pandemic impacted this referral pattern. Method(s): Over the last twenty years, approximately 2,275 children have presented to our institution for radiation treatment. A retrospective chart review was conducted and a patient database of demographic and clinical information was created. We used demographic data to obtain the ADI, and compared relative disparity rankings between proton therapy recipients and a random sample of patients from the 25 most common zip codes (representative of over 20% of the total cohort). We compared the number of patients treated only at the closest proton facility before and after the onset of the pandemic. Result(s): The demographic make-up of our patient population is approximately 53.7% Latino, 22.6% White, 9.5% African American, 9.2% Asian, and 5% Other. Of these patients, about 500 had diagnoses typically referred for proton therapy (such as brain tumors, neuroblastoma, sarcomas, and Hodgkin lymphoma). At baseline, we found a statistically significant difference in the median state ADI decile of 3 and 7 for protons and photons, respectively, reflecting lower socioeconomic disadvantage in the proton group. There was a difference in the median household income (based on zip code) of $102,028 and $70,479 between the proton and photon groups (p < 0.0001). There was also a difference in median household income of $57,871 and $76,808 between Latino and Non-Latino patients (p < 0.0001). Demographic data for the proton therapy cohort showed that 46.2% of these patients were White, 15.4% were Latino, 15.4% were African American, 7.7% were Asian, and 15.4% were Other. At the closest proton facility, between 2014-2019, 16 of our patients received radiation therapy. Since the beginning of pandemic associated restrictions in March 2020, 19 patients have received proton therapy at this center. Conclusion(s): Disparities preventing patients from receiving proton therapy have been described. Our work adds granular census block data and uses the ADI which takes into account median family income, unemployment rate, households without access to a vehicle, English language proficiency and more. Those with lower ADI risk rankings were overrepresented in the proton therapy group. Despite the pandemic and added referral challenges, the number of patients able to receive proton therapy did not decrease which we hypothesize may be due to many factors, including the unanticipated flexibility of remote work amongst those with lower ADI rankings. Latinos were least likely to have proton therapy, and further research is needed to ameliorate the disparities and barriers to care which they face.
ABSTRACT
A PENTEC analysis of published investigations of central nervous system (CNS) subsequent neoplasms (CNS-SN) in childhood cancer survivors who received radiation therapy (RT) to the brain was performed to estimate the effect of RT dose and gender on the risk of CNS-SN following RT. Through the PENTEC initiative, a systematic literature review was performed to identify published data on CNS-SN after prior cranial RT in childhood cancer survivors. Using the Covidence platform 2,156 studies were screened for potential inclusion. The incidences of CNS-SNs, RT dose, age, gender, primary cancer diagnosis, and latent time from primary diagnosis to CNS-SN were extracted, to assess the factors influencing risk for subsequent meningiomas or subsequent malignant CNS tumors (e.g., gliomas). The odds ratio for CNS-SNs in different dose intervals were calculated and excess odds ratio (EOR) per Gy of developing subsequent meningiomas or malignant tumors was estimated using inverse-variance weighted linear regression to model the risk for CNS-SN versus dose. Forty studies of independent patient cohorts provided information on 736 subsequent malignant tumors with average median latency 10.3 years, and 32 studies provided information on 1,035 subsequent meningiomas with average median latency 20.5 years. Dose-response was derived from 6 studies of 248 subsequent malignant tumors and 7 studies of 557 subsequent meningiomas. The pooled EOR/Gy was 0.45 (95% CI: 0.25, 0.66) for meningiomas and 0.16 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.20) for malignant CNS tumors. The average cumulative incidence of developing a meningioma or malignant CNS tumor at 15 years of follow-up was 2.4% (range, 1.2-6.3%) or 0.9% (range, 0.4-1.8%), respectively. Females had a higher risk of meningioma than males (OR=1.5, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.8;6 studies;50,346 patients) whereas no gender difference was seen in risk of malignant tumors (OR=0.9, 95% CI: 0.7, 1.2;4 studies;32,446 patients). This PENTEC systematic review shows a significant radiation dose-response relationship and higher risk among females for meningioma, akin to the general population, and a highly significant but somewhat less steep relationship for subsequent malignant tumors with no effect of gender. Further evaluation of the effect of age and chemotherapy in relation to dose and gender is necessary to elucidate the risk of CNS-SN after RT. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)