Race and Gender Disparity in the Surgical Management of Hepatocellular Cancer: Analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program Registry

Background The existence of race and gender disparity has been described in numerous areas of medicine. The management of hepatocellular cancer is no different, but in no other area of medicine, is the treatment algorithm more complicated by local, regional, and national health care distribution policy. Methods Multivariate logistic regression and Cox-regression were utilized to analyze the treatment of patients with hepatocellular cancer registered in SEER between 1999 and 2013 to determine the incidence and effects of racial and gender disparity. Odd ratios (OR) are relative to Caucasian males, SEER region, and tumor characteristics. Results The analysis of 57,449 patients identified the minority were female (25.31%) and African-American (16.26%). All tumor interventions were protective ( p