Association between Race and Social Deprivation in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies

Background: Recent therapeutic advances including biologics, immunomodulators, and cellular therapies have transformed management paradigms for hematologic malignancies. Nevertheless, disparities exist in terms of access to care, and non-White individuals are historically underrepresented in clinical trials. As it remains unknown whether there are inequalities in care related to adverse events of these therapeutic approaches, in this study we explored whether racial and social differences are related to outcomes of patients with hematologic malignancies.

Methods: This was a retrospective chart review from January 2011 to December 2021 that included adult patients across our cancer center network with diagnostic codes for malignant neoplasms of lymphoid, myeloid, and hematopoietic origin who were receiving an immunologic therapy at the time of an emergency department visit. Data were compared according to White and non-White individuals. The non-White group comprised of Black or African American, Asian Indian, Chinese, Asian, or unspecified/other. Differences in continuous variables between groups were assessed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, and Chi-square or Fisher's exact test was used to compare categorical variables. Outcomes included time to admission, length of stay within the hospital, ICU admissions, and differences in social deprivation index (SDI). SDI is a composite measure of a geographic region's socioeconomic variation in health outcomes based on demographic characteristics collected by the U.S Census Bureau (www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs). Higher SDI scores indicate more severe social deprivation.

Results: 180 patients were identified with 142 patients meeting inclusion criteria. Among these, 43% were non-White patients. The median age for the White group was 71.6 and for the non-White group 65.8 (P=.001). The most common immunotherapies were lenalidomide (50%), pomalidomide (19.7%), daratumumab (12.7%), methotrexate (9.9%), and rituximab (8.5%). The main chief complaint that was statistically different between the two groups was musculoskeletal complaints; the incidence among the White group was 8.6% and 29.5% among the non-White group (P=0.001). Other reasons for presentation included neurological complaints (21)%, infection/sepsis (16%), respiratory issues (12%), and abnormal laboratory values (3.5%). There were no differences in time to hospitalization for White versus non-White patients (5 versus 6 hours, P=0.12). Differences in ICU admissions, 30 day-readmissions, and length of stay were also not statistically significant between the two groups. However, the median SDI for the White group was statically greater among the non-White group (p<0.001).

Discussion: In this retrospective study, non-White patients with hematologic malignancies were found to have greater social deprivation than White patients, however this did not impact inpatient metrics. We found that non-White patients with hematologic malignancies were more likely to originate from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, although there were no differences in hospitalization outcomes among the two groups. Results suggest that social determinants may impact factors unrelated to access to acute care in patients with hematologic therapies receiving immunologic therapies.