The impact of race and ethnicity on outcomes of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes: a population-based analysis

Abstract

Race and ethnic backgrounds affect the disease characteristics and clinical outcomes in many cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia; however, the association of race/ethnicity on myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is still controversial. Therefore, we aimed to study the impact of race/ethnicity on the disease characteristics and survival outcomes in patients with MDS. Adult patients with MDS diagnosed in 2004–2016 were selected using the SEER database. Race/ethnicity was categorized as non-Hispanic White (NHW), non-Hispanic Black (NHB), and Hispanic. Hispanic and NHB patients had significantly lower incidence rate ratio (IRR) in age group ≥01 years (p < .001) compared to NHW; however, in the age group <50 years, NHB patients had significantly higher IRR with an increased incidence rate of 49%. NHB patients had better overall survival than Hispanic and NHW patients (p < .001), even after adjusting for confounding variables. MDS have significant differences in age at diagnosis, disease risk, and survival outcomes based on racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Keywords:

• Myelodysplastic syndromes
• race
• ethnicity
• national database
• survival analysis
• incidence

Acknowledgements

These data are provided by SEER*Stat technical support from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program.

Prior presentation: This study has been presented as a poster in the 62^nd ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Authors contributions

Study concept, design, data analysis, and interpretation: Goksu, Ozer, and Madanat. Drafting, revision, and final approval of manuscript: all authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).