Cancer of the uterine corpus among Hispanic women living in the United States: Patterns of staging, diagnosis, and primary treatment

Objectives. To evaluate the demographic characteristics, clinico-pathological features, and patterns of care of uterine cancer among Hispanic women living in the United States. Methods. The National Cancer Institute (NCI)'s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER), was used to identify 1618 Hispanic, 17,814 non-Hispanic white (NHW), and 1477 non-Hispanic black (NHB) women diagnosed with primary carcinoma of the uterus during 1996-2000. Data derived from hospital registries was analyzed, for differences in case presentation, staging, and primary treatment by race/ethnicity and age. Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM PC packages, Stata, and the SAS system. Results. Hispanic women were statistically significantly more likely to present with uterine cancer at a younger age compared to non-Hispanic groups. Hispanic women with early stage disease (stage I-II) were also statistically significantly more likely to be younger than 55 years at the time of diagnosis (NHW: OR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.35-0.45; P = 0.0000, NHB: OR = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.38-0.55; P = 0.0000). Hispanics were statistically significant less likely than NHB to present with advanced stage disease, high tumor grade, and receive radiation therapy for uterine cancer. Conclusions. Hispanic women are more likely to be diagnosed with uterine cancer at a younger age than other ethnic groups. The etiologic factors related to this presentation have yet to be precisely defined. Additional epidemiological and demographic studies, addressing such factors as body mass index and other medical co-morbidities, are needed to identify opportunities for improved cancer prevention and control in this population of women.