Abstract IA25: Disparities in survivors of pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancers

Outcome disparities in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer are multifaceted. While disparities are commonly described along racial/ethnic lines, the underlying causes of these differences in outcome are often rooted in socioeconomic status, host genetics, disease biology, health literacy lifestyle factors, health behaviors, and comorbidities. Nonetheless, by the middle of this century, racial/ethnic minority populations will collectively constitute 50% of the U.S. population. This temporal shift in the racial/ethnic composition of the U.S. population demands a close examination of the observed disparities in both the quality and quantity of survival in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer. In this talk we describe the differences in overall and event-free survival by race/ethnicity as well as by age (children vs. adolescent and young adult) across a variety of cancer types. We examine the causes of the difference in these outcomes. We describe the burden of morbidity carried by cancer survivors across racial/ethnic and socioeconomic lines and present the current evidence for the causes of observed differences in morbidity. We speculate that any racial/ethnic differences in outcome are likely to be multifactorial, and draw on extant literature to illustrate the various contributors (socioeconomic characteristics, health behaviors, disease biology, and comorbidities) that could explain any observed differences in key treatment-related complications. Finally, we outline challenges in conducting race/ethnicity-specific survivorship research, demonstrating that there are limited absolute numbers who are diagnosed and survive histologically distinct cancers in any one racial/ethnic minority population, thereby precluding a rigorous evaluation of adverse events among specific primary cancer diagnoses and treatment exposure groups. Citation Format: Smita Bhatia. Disparities in survivors of pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr IA25.