Investigators at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey found that black pediatric patients with Hodgkin lymphoma have significantly worse overall survival rates after five years than white patients. Black patients experienced a five-year overall survival of 91.5 percent compared to 95.9 percent experienced by their white counterparts across all stages of disease.
“The race-based disparity demonstrated through this work transcends that of differences in socioeconomic status,” notes senior investigator, Rutgers Cancer Institute radiation oncologist Rahul Parikh, MD. “Future research should focus on understanding the biological causes of this disparity and identifying ways to alleviate it,” adds Dr. Parikh, who is also an associate professor of radiation oncology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in Chicago, the study is believed to be the largest to date examining the role of race on pediatric cancer survival outcomes.
Read the full story on the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey website.