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Poor women and African Americans with ovarian cancer are less likely to receive the highest standards of care, leadingto worse outcomes than among white and affluent patients, accordingto a study of 50,000 women presented by UC Irvine's Dr. RobertBristow at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology's annual meeting. "Not all women are benefiting equally from improvements in ovariancancer care," said Bristow, UC Irvine's director of gynecologiconcology services. "The reasons behind these disparities are notentirely clear, which is why we need additional research." The study's goal was to examine differences related to race andsocioeconomic status among women being treated for epithelialovarian carcinomas - cancer that forms on the surface of an ovary. It also aimed to determinewhether their care adhered to National Comprehensive Cancer Networktreatment guidelines. Bristow and colleagues found that five-year survival rates variedsignificantly. (Improvement in ovarian cancer care is measured inlength of survival after diagnosis rather than a "cure" rate.) Among those whose care met NCCN standards, the rate for white womenwas 41.4 percent, compared with 33.3 percent for African Americanwomen. Among those whose care did not meet NCCN standards, the ratefor white women was 37.8 percent, compared with 22.5 percent forAfrican American women. Bristow said that women on Medicaid or those with no insurance had a 30 percent increased risk ofdeath. Poor women - defined as having an annual household income ofless than $35,000 - had worse survival rates regardless of race. He said it's likely that the effects of race and socioeconomicstatus are cumulative and that some combination of other medicalconditions, poverty, culture and social injustice accounts for themajority of observed disparities. Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecologic cancer, accounting formore than 15,000 deaths a year, according to the National CancerInstitute. "Under the best circumstances, treating ovarian cancer ischallenging, because there's no screening tool available to detectthe disease in its early stages," Bristow said. Only 20 to 30 percent of ovarian cancers are diagnosed while stillconfined to the primary site; the remainder are identified inadvanced stages after spreading to areas such as the liver, thelungs and nearby lymph nodes. Additional References Citations. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as GSM GPS Module , Temperature Sensor for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits GSM Module.
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