Neighborhood opportunity is associated with completion of hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance prior to the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis

Background

The Ohio Opportunity Index (OOI) is a multidimensional metric used to quantify neighborhood-level resources to access a wide array of factors that influence health. This study examined the relationship between neighborhood opportunity and completion of guideline-concordant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening in patients with cirrhosis.

Methods

This retrospective study included patients with cirrhosis and HCC who received care at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center between 1/1/2015 and 12/31/2021. High opportunity was defined as a score greater than the third quartile of the study cohort. Modified Poisson regression models with robust variance examined the association, on the prevalence ratio (aPR) scale, between guideline-concordant HCC screening and high neighborhood opportunity status.

Results

This study included 157 cirrhosis patients newly diagnosed with HCC. Only 25.5 % of the patients completed HCC surveillance within 6 months prior to diagnosis. The OOI was a significant predictor of adherence in all models. For every ten-percentile increase in OOI score, there was a consistent increase in the prevalence ratio (PR) of pre-diagnosis HCC surveillance (PR=1.37, 95 % CI 1.10–1.71). This effect remained significant after controlling for sociodemographic, clinical, and cirrhosis-related variables (adjusted PR=1.38, 95 % CI 1.02–1.85. Compared to those with high OOI (i.e.,≥Q₃), patients in the lowest opportunity quartile had a 64 % lower prevalence of HCC screening (PR=0.36, 95 % CI 0.26–0.50).

Conclusion

Neighborhood opportunity status has a dose-dependent effect on HCC surveillance adherence in patients with cirrhosis. Future studies should identify neighborhood-level interventions to reduce socioeconomic disparities in HCC diagnosis and outcomes.