African Americans diagnosed with lung cancer are less likely to see an oncologist and subsequently less likely to receive chemotherapy, largely because of their socioeconomic status, according to researchers at Harvard University.
Researchers studied 12,015 patients over age 65 who were diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer between 1991 and 1996 and monitored by a Survival, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) tumor registry.
Of the patients who were not treated with chemotherapy, 36 percent were never assessed by a physician who provided chemotherapy. Patients living in particular areas, those diagnosed in more recent years, and patients who received care in a teaching hospital were all more likely to have seen a cancer specialist, according to the study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These factors were not related to subsequent treatment decisions.
Age and the presence of other illnesses did not have a significant effect on whether a patient was seen by an oncologist, but were linked with the likelihood of their receiving subsequent chemotherapy.
Investigators concluded, "Nonmedical factors are important determinants of whether a lung cancer patient is seen by a physician who provides chemotherapy. After seeing such a physician, treatment decisions seem to be mostly explained by appropriate medical factors. Racial and socioeconomic disparities still exist at both steps, however."
"Referring physicians must ensure that biases and barriers to care do not deprive patients of the opportunity to consider all of their treatment options," the study advised.
