Original Research Article
Year: 2017 | Month: January | Volume: 7 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 232-236
Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Cervical Cancer Mortality
Florence Femi Odekunle
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Health Professions, Department of Health Informatics, New Jersey, USA
ABSTRACT
Background: Despite the fact that cancer of the cervix is known to be a preventable cancer, it remains one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths in females. Cervical cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer related death in females
Objectives: The purposes of this study were to determine cervical cancer inpatient mortality across different racial groups and different median household income levels in the United States.
Methods: This study made use of the National/Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. The NIS is the largest inpatient database in the United States containing data from 1988 to 2013. The four most recent available calendar years (2010 to 2013) were obtained for the analysis.
Results: In the selected four calendar years, a total of 86,193,186 female patients were admitted. Of these patients, the number of cervical cancer patients was 61,992. Out of this number, 60,972 (98.4%) patients were discharged while 1,020 (1.6%) patients died during hospitalization. The Black race had the highest death rate (3.0%) while Asian or Pacific Islander had the lowest death rate (1.1%). The lowest income category (< $39,000) had the highest death rate (2.0%) while the highest income category (> $63,000) had the lowest death rate (1.3%). Findings suggested that cervical cancer inpatient mortality differed significantly by race and median household income level with the P-values of 0.000 and 0.001 respectively.
Conclusion: Racial and income level disparities in cervical cancer inpatient mortality are present in the United States with the Black race having the highest mortality rate. There is a need for the creation of targeted prevention and treatment programs that will address the racial and socioeconomic gaps in cervical cancer mortality.
Key words: race, ethnicity, income, socioeconomic, mortality, death, inpatient, cervical cancer, United States.