Racial disparities in the incidence and survival outcomes in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in adolescents and young adults

Abstract

Diffuse large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The disease generally occurs in older patients. Although at a lower prevalence, the disease also occurs in the adolescent and young adult group (AYA). There is paucity of data in the literature on racial and ethnic disparities in the incidence and survival outcomes of DLBCL in the AYA group. The objective of our study is to demonstrate the disparities in these outcomes. Utilizing SEER, we obtained data on patient demographics, incidence, and survival from 2000 to 2020. We observed statistically significant reduced incidence of DLBCL in all racial groups, except the non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander group (NHAPI). The non-Hispanic Black group (NHB) had one of the lowest survival despite showing the largest decrease in incidence in DLBCL. The differences in the survival could be secondary to socioeconomic factors, however other reasons need to be explored. The increased incidence among the NHAPI group mirrors that of large population-based studies in East Asian countries, however, underlying reasons have not been elucidated.