Disparities in Survival Outcomes Among Black Patients with HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancer.

We identified 9,256 OPSCC patients who met inclusion criteria and were treated between 2010-2016, of which 7,912 were white (85.5%) and 1,344 were Black (14.5%). 1,727 were HPV-OPSCC, of which 1598 were White (92.5%) and 129 (7.5%) were Black. By race, the 5-year OS for White Vs Black OPSCC patients was 42% versus 23%, respectively (log-rank, p<0.0001). Among HPV-Positive OPSCC patients, the 5-year OS for White vs Black patients was 65% versus 39% (log-rank, p<0.0001). Among HPV negative patients the 5-year OS for White vs Black patients was 36% versus 13% (log-rank, p<0.0001). On multivariate analysis, after accounting for age, sex, insurance status, income, Charlson-Deyo score, receipt of surgery, distance from facility, and total treatment time, Black race trended towards, but was not associated with worse survival. (HR:1.24, 95% CI 0.85-1.81, p=0.255) CONCLUSIONS: This national cohort study of OPSCC patients demonstrates that Black patients with HPV-OPSCC have a poor prognosis and overall survival similar to HPV-negative White patients. This may be partly due to socioeconomic barriers such as insurance and income. Further work is needed to better understand the specific drivers of inferior survival outcomes in this specific patient population. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.