Children From Ethnic Minorities Have Benefited Equally as Other Children From Contemporary Therapy for Rhabdomyosarcoma: A Report From the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group

To define the clinical characteristics of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) occurring in children from ethnic minorities and determine whether these children have benefited equally from advances in therapy. This was a retrospective cohort analysis of children treated on the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group protocols between 1984 and 1997. The clinical features and outcomes of 336 African-American children and 286 children from other ethnic minorities were compared with those of white children (n = 1,721). African-American, other ethnic group, and white children enjoyed similar 5-year failure-free survivals (FFS) of 61%, 61%, and 66%, respectively, P =.15. Compared with white children, nonwhite patients more often had (1) invasive, T2 tumors (P =.03); (2) stage 2 or 3 tumors (P =.003); (3) large tumors (more than 5 cm, P