Socioeconomic Disparities in Mississippi Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Objectives: Analyze the socioeconomic characteristics of head and neck cancer patients in Mississippi. Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design, 1435 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract who were treated at the single tertiary care center for the state of Mississippi and diagnosed between 1991 and 2012 were analyzed for correlation between overall cancer stage at presentation, race, sex, and several socioeconomic data points within their zip code, including median household income, percent population with less than a 9th grade education, and percent population with yearly income less than $10,000. Results: There were significant (P = 0.001) Spearman correlations between overall tumor stage and median household income, percent population with less than a 9th grade education, percent population with income less than $10,000, race of patient, and sex of patient. As median income increased, tumor stage tended to decrease. As the percentage making less than $10,000 and percentage below 9th grade education increased, tumor stage tended to increase. Controlling for sex and race, African-Americans tended to have more advanced tumors than Caucasians, and males tended to have more advanced tumors than females. African-American males had significantly advanced cancer stages at presentation than all other groups. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this study is the first to directly correlate overall stage of head and neck cancer patients with socioeconomic status and illustrates that patients with more advanced cancers are more likely to be African-American males and live in economically disadvantaged areas.