Journal Article

A matched-pair analysis on survival and response rates between German and non-German cancer patients treated at a Comprehensive Cancer Center

Kuhn, Walther, Keyver-Paik, Mignon-Denise, Bieber, Thomas, Reich, Rudolf H., Kristiansen, Glen, Budde, Marie K., Aretz, Stefan, Essler, Markus, Schmidt-Wolf, Ingo G. H., Brossart, Peter, Vatter, Hartmut, Strassburg, Christian P., Skowasch, Dirk, Radbruch, Lukas, Kalff, Jörg C., Pietsch, Thorsten, Geiser, Franziska, Funke, Benjamin, Müller, Stefan C., Landsberg, Jennifer, Bootz, Friedrich, Schild, Hans H., Herrlinger, Ulrich, Ernstmann, Nicole, Wirtz, Dieter C.

2019

Overview

Background Research shows disparities in cancer outcomes by ethnicity or socio-economic status. Therefore, it is the aim of our study to perform a matched-pair analysis which compares the outcome of German and non-German (in the following described as ‘foreign’) cancer patients being treated at the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO) Köln Bonn at the University Hospital of Bonn between January 2010 and June 2016. Methods During this time, 6314 well-documented patients received a diagnosis of cancer. Out of these patients, 219 patients with foreign nationality could be matched to German patients based on diagnostic and demographic criteria and were included in the study. All of these 438 patients were well characterized concerning survival data (Overall survival, Progression-free survival and Time to progression) and response to treatment. Results No significant differences regarding the patients’ survival and response rates were seen when all German and foreign patients were compared. A subgroup analysis of German and foreign patients with head and neck cancer revealed a significantly longer progression-free survival for the German patients. Differences in response to treatment could not be found in this subgroup analysis. Conclusions In summary, no major differences in survival and response rates of German and foreign cancer patients were revealed in this study. Nevertheless, the differences in progression-free survival, which could be found in the subgroup analysis of patients with head and neck cancer, should lead to further research, especially evaluating the role of infectious diseases like human papillomavirus (HPV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) on carcinogenesis and disease progression.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,BMC
• Subject: Adult / Aged / Aged, 80 and over / Analysis / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedicine / Cancer / Cancer diagnosis / Cancer patients / Cancer Research / Carcinogenesis / Care and treatment / Chief information officers / Communicable diseases / Diagnosis / Epidemiology / Epstein-Barr virus / European Continental Ancestry Group / Female / Follow-Up Studies / Genital Neoplasms, Female - ethnology / Genital Neoplasms, Female - mortality / Genital Neoplasms, Female - therapy / Germany - ethnology / Head and neck cancer / Head and Neck Neoplasms - ethnology / Head and Neck Neoplasms - mortality / Head and Neck Neoplasms - therapy / Health Promotion and Disease Prevention / Humans / Inequalities / Kaplan-Meier Estimate / Male / Matched pair analysis / Medical research / Medicine/Public Health / Middle Aged / Migrants / Oncology / Papillomavirus / Papillomavirus infections / prevention and public health / Progression-Free Survival / Research Article / Retrospective Studies / Social class / Surgical Oncology / Survival / Young Adult