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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (29 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Davis Previously Published Works (2019)
BACKGROUND: This population-based study considered the influence of rituximab on the survival of children (0-19 years), adolescents, and young adults (AYAs, 20-39 years) with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), including patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. METHODS: Data on 642 children and AYAs diagnosed with DLBCL during 2001-2014 were obtained from the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry in California. Facility-level reports provided treatment details. The Kaplan-Meier method estimated survival and Cox regression models examined the association between survival and rituximab use, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical factors. RESULTS: Rituximab use increased from 2001-2007 to 2008-2014 among children (from 32% to 48%), AYAs (from 68% to 84%), and HIV patients (from 57% to 67%). Five-year survival was higher among children (91%) than AYAs (82%). On multivariable analysis, the hazard of death was 44% lower among rituximab recipients, and higher among uninsured patients, those with HIV, and those with advanced stage at diagnosis. HIV patients who received rituximab were 60% less likely to die than nonrecipients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests a benefit of rituximab on the treatment of AYAs and HIV patients with DLBCL. The worse survival observed among HIV-positive and uninsured patients is of concern and calls for further investigation. Careful consideration should be given on whether to recommend rituximab more often on the front-line treatment of children and HIV-positive patients with DLBCL.
    Cover page: Survival after diffuse large B-cell lymphoma among children, adolescents, and young adults in California, 2001-2014: A population-based study.
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    Recent Work (2008)
      Cover page: Calculating expected years of life lost for assessing local ethnic disparities in causes of premature death
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Davis Previously Published Works (2018)
      Adolescents and young adults (AYAs, 15-39 years) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) represent a heterogeneous population who receive care in pediatric or adult cancer settings. Using the California Cancer Registry, we describe AYA ALL patterns of care and outcomes over the past decade. Sociodemographics, treatment location, and front-line therapies administered to AYAs diagnosed with ALL between 2004 and 2014 were obtained. Cox regression models evaluated associations between ALL setting and regimen and overall survival (OS) and leukemia-specific survival (LSS) for the entire cohort, younger AYA (<25 years), and AYAs treated in the adult cancer setting only. Of 1473 cases, 67.7% were treated in an adult setting; of these, 24.8% received a pediatric ALL regimen and 40.7% were treated at a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated center. In multivariable analyses, front-line treatment in a pediatric (vs adult) setting (OS HR = 0.53, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37-0.76; LSS HR = 0.51, 95% CI, 0.35-0.74) and at an NCI/Children's Oncology Group (COG) center (OS HR = 0.80, 95% CI, 0.66-0.96; LSS HR = 0.80, 95% CI, 0.65-0.97) were associated with significantly superior survival. Results were similar when analyses were limited to younger AYAs. Outcomes for AYAs treated in an adult setting did not differ following front-line pediatric or adult ALL regimens. Our population-level findings demonstrate that two-thirds of AYAs with newly diagnosed ALL are treated in an adult cancer setting, with the majority receiving care in community settings. Given the potential survival benefits, front-line treatment of AYA ALL at pediatric and/or NCI/COG-designated cancer centers should be considered.
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2018)
        OBJECTIVES: Pancreatic cancer continues to carry a poor prognosis with survival rates that have had minimal improvement over the past 4 decades. We report a population-based, comprehensive analysis of long-term survivors of pancreatic adenocarcinoma diagnosed in the diverse population of California. METHODS: Data from the California Cancer Registry were used to evaluate long-term survival. A total of 70,442 patients diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma between 1988 and 2009 were identified. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with achieving 5-year survival. RESULTS: The overall 5-year survival was 2.5%, with minimal incremental improvements throughout the 3 decades. Age, stage, degree of differentiation, and surgical resection were associated with 5-year survival. Furthermore, younger age and receiving care at a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center were similarly correlated with 5-year survival regardless of surgical intervention. In addition, we identified stage, differentiation, and adjuvant chemotherapy as significant factors for long-term survival in surgically resected patients. In the unresectable patients, Asian/Pacific islanders and Hispanics were significantly more likely to reach the 5-year milestone than non-Hispanic whites. CONCLUSIONS: Although pancreatic cancer mortality remains high, our study highlights baseline characteristics, treatment, biological factors, and ethnicity that are associated with long-term survival. These findings may serve as a springboard for further investigation.
          Cover page: Long-Term Survivors of Pancreatic Cancer: A California Population-Based Study.
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2019)

          Background

          Surgical and medical androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) strategies are comparable in their ability to suppress serum testosterone levels as treatment in patients with metastatic prostate cancer but differ with regard to cost and impact on quality of life. Medical ADT is associated with better long-term quality of life due to the flexibility of possible therapy interruption but comes with a higher cumulative cost. In the current study, the authors examined whether surgical ADT (ie, bilateral orchiectomy) was used differentially by race/ethnicity and other social factors.

          Methods

          The authors identified patients with metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis through the California Cancer Registry. The association between race/ethnicity and receipt of surgical ADT was modeled using multivariable Firth logistic regression adjusting for age, Gleason score, prostate-specific antigen level, clinical tumor and lymph node classification, neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), insurance, marital status, comorbidities, initial treatment (radiotherapy, chemotherapy), location of care, rural/urban area of residence, and year of diagnosis.

          Results

          The authors examined a total of 10,675 patients with metastatic prostate cancer, 11.4% of whom were non-Hispanic black, 8.4% of whom were Asian/Pacific Islander, 18.5% of whom were Hispanic/Latino, and 60.5% of whom were non-Hispanic white. In the multivariable model, patients found to be more likely to receive surgical ADT were Hispanic/Latino (odds ratio [OR], 1.32; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.01-1.72), were from a low neighborhood SES (OR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.34-2.89) or rural area (OR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.15-1.92), and had Medicaid/public insurance (OR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.58-3.10). Patients with military/Veterans Affairs insurance were significantly less likely to receive surgical ADT compared with patients with private insurance (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.13-0.88).

          Conclusions

          Race/ethnicity, neighborhood SES, and insurance status appear to be significantly associated with receipt of surgical ADT. Future research will need to characterize other differences in initial treatments among men with advanced prostate cancer based on race/ethnicity and aim to better understand what factors drive the association between surgical ADT among men of Hispanic origin or those from areas with low neighborhood SES.
            Cover page: Differential use of medical versus surgical androgen deprivation therapy for patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Davis Previously Published Works (2016)
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2018)

              Background

              Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecologic malignancy. We examined factors affecting overall prognosis and survival among different racial groups diagnosed with high-grade EC.

              Methods

              We utilized the California Cancer Registry database (CCR) to identify women with high-grade II EC from 1998 to 2009. Using the Kaplan-Meier method, we described disease-specific survival. Survival by stage, race, and time to treatment category was compared using the log-rank test. The associations of race with disease-specific survival were modeled using Cox proportional hazards regression. Covariates were selected a priori.

              Results

              A total of 10 647 patients met study eligibility criteria. The majority of patients in this cohort of high-grade EC were non-Hispanic (NH) white (64.1%), followed by Hispanic (15.7%), Asian (10.4%), and NH black (9.8%). NH black women had higher incidence of certain aggressive histologic subtypes in comparison with NH whites, including serous carcinomas and carcinosarcoma. Non-Hispanic black patients had a worse 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) when compared to other racial groups. The five-year DSS for NH black women was 54% (51%-57%), compared to NH white women 66% (65%-67%), Hispanic 67% (64%-69%), and Asians 69% (67%-72%) (P < 0.0001). This clear survival disadvantage of NH black women persisted when controlling for other factors.

              Conclusions

              Non-Hispanic black women have a higher incidence of more aggressive histologic subtypes even among a cohort of women high-grade EC and have a disproportionately worse disease-specific survival after controlling for factors such as age, histologic subtype, stage, time to treatment, and type of treatment.
                Cover page: Racial disparities in outcomes for high‐grade uterine cancer: A California cancer registry study
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC Davis Previously Published Works (2018)
                Adolescents and young adults (AYAs, 15-39 years) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) represent a heterogeneous population who receive care in pediatric or adult cancer settings. Using the California Cancer Registry, we describe AYA ALL patterns of care and outcomes over the past decade. Sociodemographics, treatment location, and front-line therapies administered to AYAs diagnosed with ALL between 2004 and 2014 were obtained. Cox regression models evaluated associations between ALL setting and regimen and overall survival (OS) and leukemia-specific survival (LSS) for the entire cohort, younger AYA (<25 years), and AYAs treated in the adult cancer setting only. Of 1473 cases, 67.7% were treated in an adult setting; of these, 24.8% received a pediatric ALL regimen and 40.7% were treated at a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated center. In multivariable analyses, front-line treatment in a pediatric (vs adult) setting (OS HR = 0.53, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.37-0.76; LSS HR = 0.51, 95% CI, 0.35-0.74) and at an NCI/Childrens Oncology Group (COG) center (OS HR = 0.80, 95% CI, 0.66-0.96; LSS HR = 0.80, 95% CI, 0.65-0.97) were associated with significantly superior survival. Results were similar when analyses were limited to younger AYAs. Outcomes for AYAs treated in an adult setting did not differ following front-line pediatric or adult ALL regimens. Our population-level findings demonstrate that two-thirds of AYAs with newly diagnosed ALL are treated in an adult cancer setting, with the majority receiving care in community settings. Given the potential survival benefits, front-line treatment of AYA ALL at pediatric and/or NCI/COG-designated cancer centers should be considered.
                  Cover page: Patterns of care and outcomes in adolescent and young adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a population-based study.
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Davis Previously Published Works (2017)

                  The presence of comorbid medical conditions can significantly affect a cancer patient's treatment options, quality of life, and survival. However, these important data are often lacking from population-based cancer registries. Leveraging routine linkage to hospital discharge data, a comorbidity score was calculated for patients in the California Cancer Registry (CCR) database.

                  California cancer cases diagnosed between 1991 and 2013 were linked to statewide hospital discharge data. A Deyo and Romano adapted Charlson Comorbidity Index was calculated for each case, and the association of comorbidity score with overall survival was assessed with Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models. Using a subset of Medicare-enrolled CCR cases, the index was validated against a comorbidity score derived using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked data.

                  A comorbidity score was calculated for 71% of CCR cases. The majority (60.2%) had no relevant comorbidities. Increasing comorbidity score was associated with poorer overall survival. In a multivariable model, high comorbidity conferred twice the risk of death compared to no comorbidity (hazard ratio 2.33, 95% CI: 2.32-2.34). In the subset of patients with a SEER-Medicare-derived score, the sensitivity of the hospital discharge-based index for detecting any comorbidity was 76.5. The association between overall mortality and comorbidity score was stronger for the hospital discharge-based score than for the SEER-Medicare-derived index, and the predictive ability of the hospital discharge-based score, as measured by Harrell's C index, was also slightly better for the hospital discharge-based score (C index 0.62 versus 0.59, P<0.001).

                  Despite some limitations, using hospital discharge data to construct a comorbidity index for cancer registries is a feasible and valid method to enhance registry data, which can provide important clinically relevant information for population-based cancer outcomes research.

                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2008)

                    BACKGROUND: A core function of local health departments is to conduct health assessments. The analysis of death certificates provides information on diseases, conditions, and injuries that are likely to cause death - an important outcome indicator of population health. The expected years of life lost (YLL) measure is a valid, stand-alone measure for identifying and ranking the underlying causes of premature death. The purpose of this study was to rank the leading causes of premature death among San Francisco residents, and to share detailed methods so that these analyses can be used in other local health jurisdictions. METHODS: Using death registry data and population estimates for San Francisco deaths in 2003-2004, we calculated the number of deaths, YLL, and age-standardized YLL rates (ASYRs). The results were stratified by sex, ethnicity, and underlying cause of death. The YLL values were used to rank the leading causes of premature death for men and women, and by ethnicity. RESULTS: In the years 2003-2004, 6312 men died (73,627 years of life lost), and 5726 women died (51,194 years of life lost). The ASYR for men was 65% higher compared to the ASYR for women (8971.1 vs. 5438.6 per 100,000 persons per year). The leading causes of premature deaths are those with the largest average YLLs and are largely preventable. Among men, these were HIV/AIDS, suicide, drug overdose, homicide, and alcohol use disorder; and among women, these were lung cancer, breast cancer, hypertensive heart disease, colon cancer, and diabetes mellitus. A large health disparity exists between African Americans and other ethnic groups: African American age-adjusted overall and cause-specific YLL rates were higher, especially for homicide among men. Except for homicide among Latino men, Latinos and Asians have comparable or lower YLL rates among the leading causes of death compared to whites. CONCLUSION: Local death registry data can be used to measure, rank, and monitor the leading causes of premature death, and to measure and monitor ethnic health disparities.

                      Cover page: Calculating expected years of life lost for assessing local ethnic disparities in causes of premature death.
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