MSOR10 Presentation Time: 8:45 AM

Purpose

Brachytherapy (BT) boost is the standard of care technique for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) and a critical component of curative treatment. Overall treatment time strongly correlates with local control, with evidence indicating that completion of chemoradiation within 8 weeks is important for clinical outcomes. Socioeconomic and racial factors are also known to contribute to disparities in BT access and have been linked to worsened survival. The aim of our study is to explore factors impacting timely completion of BT treatment amongst LACC patients treated at a single academic institution that serves a large catchment area in the state of Virginia.

Methods

Patients diagnosed with LACC receiving their BT at the University of Virginia (UVA) between 2004 and 2021 were identified. Patient demographics and additional characteristics were recorded, including: insurance and employment status, alcohol and/or drug use disorder, and distance from UVA Cancer Center. Based on proven prognostic factors for local control of LACC, the cut off of 56 days to complete treatment was used for stratification, looking at demographic differences between those groups who received timely or prolonged therapy completion. The means for each demographic were compared using standard error and simple unpaired t-tests.

Results

124 patients with LACC, FIGO stage IB2 to IV were included Median age of our cohort at time of treatment was 49.8 years. 50% of patients were employed, 42% were unemployed, and 8% had unknown employment status. 79% of patients had listed insurance, 11% had no insurance, and 10% had unknown insurance information. Racial demographics were 74% white, 15% black, 9% Hispanic, 2% Asian, and <1% unidentified. 4% of patients had a history of incarceration, 3% of patients had a known history of or current drug abuse, and 2 of the above patients had both factors. Out of the 124 patients, 24 patients completed concurrent chemoradiation and BT beyond 56 days. The statistically significant social barriers identified in this group included employment, insurance status, and drug use. Employed patients completed treatment on an average of 49.7 ± 1.1 days (range 36-79), compared to 51.44 days ± 1.5 days (range 34-87) for unemployed patients (p = 0.0135). Insured patients completed their treatment within 50.6 ± 0.9 days (range 43-71), compared to 59.14 ± 1.9 days (range 34-87) for uninsured, (p = 0.035). On average, white, Hispanic, and black women completed treatment in 50.9 ± 1.02 days, 48.9 ± 1.58 days, and 54.0 ± 2.5 days, respectively (p=0.20 for white versus black cohorts). Average completion time was 50.6 ± 0.9 (range 34-87) in the non-incarcerated group compared to 55 ± 5 days (range 47-70) in the incarcerated group, p =0.32, and average completion time was 50.3 ± 0.9 days (range 34-87) in the non-drug use compared to 65.5 ± 2.1 days (range 61-70) in the drug use group, p=0.0016. There were no patterns indicating that distance from UVA contributed to treatment times.

Conclusion

Cervical cancer patients are often a challenging demographic to treat due to the impact of socioeconomic and racial disparities in providing timely patient care. Our analysis indicates unemployment status, lack of insurance coverage, and a history of current drug abuse correlated with prolonged treatment times. Trends were also seen for racial demographics, though this did not meet statistical significance in our small sample size. Better understanding of the factors that contribute to poor patient outcomes may provide insight into how we can support these patients throughout their treatments.