Standard treatment therapies should not differ based on sociodemographics, but a recent UCI-led study published in the online journal Obstetrics & Gynecology suggests that may be the case. Alana M.W. LeBrón, UCI Chicano/Latino studies and public health assistant professor, and Victoria E. Rodriguez, UCI public health graduate student, examined the association of race-ethnicity and neighborhood socioeconomic status with the type of endometrial cancer treatment recommended to patients by their doctors, specifically whether they adhere to National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines.

In their sample of 83,883 women, the researchers found that Black, Latina, and American Indian or Alaska Native women had lower odds of receiving adherent treatment. Asian and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander women had higher odds of receiving adherent treatment compared to White women.

In addition to racial-ethnic disparities, study results also revealed differences in standard treatment therapies based on neighborhood socioeconomic status. Researchers discovered a gradient in which high-middle, middle, low-middle, and lowest neighborhood socioeconomic status categories had lower odds of receiving NCCN-adherent treatment than those in the highest neighborhood socioeconomic status group.

This study underscores the growing need for interventions aimed at promoting equitable cancer treatment practices that are accessible to all people regardless of background.

-Victoria Rodriguez, UCI Public Health