Blacks with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer are less likely to receive chemotherapy for their disease compared to white and other racial groups, according to a new study.
This type of lung cancer tends to rapidly progress, so current recommendations and practices favor starting treatment as soon as possible after a patient is diagnosed.
Researchers discovered that Black patients had lower odds of receiving chemotherapy compared to white patients, but they also had improved survival, with a median survival of 8.3 months compared to eight months.
This was an unexpected finding given that the disease is highly sensitive to chemotherapy and that this treatment is the most important predictor of survival.
See “Prevalence of Racial, Insurance and Other Socioeconomic Disparities in Chemotherapy Treatment for Patients with Extensive-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer” on the Boston Medical Center website (October 26, 2020)
