Racial and ethnic disparities in the overall survival of women with epithelial ovarian cancer in Florida, 2001–2015

Many studies have focused on white and black disparities in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) but fewer include Hispanics. Florida presents a unique opportunity to study racial/ethnic disparities. This study examined racial/ethnic disparities in the overall survival of women with EOC in Florida by histology. All EOC cases from 2001 through 2015 were identified in the Florida Cancer Database System (FCDS). Survival curves by race/ethnicity and histology were generated by Kaplan–Meier methods. Cox regression evaluated the associations between race/ethnicity, histology, and survival. Eligible EOC cases (n = 21,721) identified in the 2001–2015 FCDS were included in the study. The median survival for non-Hispanic whites (NHWs), non-Hispanic blacks (NHBs), and Hispanics was 31, 21, and 35 months, respectively (p < 0.001). NHB had an increased [AHR 1.23 (95% CI 1.15, 1.30)] and Hispanics a nonsignificant decreased hazard [AHR 0.96 (95% CI 0.91, 1.02)] of death compared to NHW after controlling for other demographic, treatment, and tumor characteristics. Relative to NHWs, NBH had worse survival while Hispanics had equivalent survival. Future research should consider evaluating genetic and epigenetic modifications, and prevalence of cancer syndromes to further elucidate the etiologies of disease in these disparate populations.