Article Text
Abstract
Introduction The incidence of ovarian cancer has decreased in the United States since the 1980s, predominantly driven by decreasing incidence in Non-Hispanic Whites. The purpose of this study was to identify racial disparities in histologic subtypes of epithelial ovarian cancer.
Methods Data were obtained from the United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) database from 2001 to 2016. Age-adjusted incidence per 100,000 women and annual percent change (APC) in incidence were calculated using SEER*Stat and Joinpoint Software.
Results Of 319,257 women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer, 79.9% were Non-Hispanic White, 7.8% were Non-Hispanic Black, 7.9% were Hispanic, 3.5% were Asian/Pacific Islanders, and 0.9% were Other/Unknown. Over a sixteen-year period, the overall incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer decreased 1.96% per year (95% CI -2.13, -1.78, p < 0.001). However, in Non-Hispanic Blacks (APC 0.84%, 2.72%) and Asian/Pacific Islanders (APC 0.94%, 2.09%), the incidence of serous and clear cell carcinoma respectively have both increased significantly in the same period. Hispanics had a significant decrease only in incidence of endometrioid (-2.1%) and mucinous (-4.23%) histologies (figure 1). This contrasts the decrease in incidence for Non-Hispanic Whites seen across all histologic subtypes.
Annual percent change in incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer by histology and race (2001 – 2016)
Conclusions Persistent racial disparities are unmasked when analyzing trends in ovarian cancer incidence by histologic subtype. Non-Hispanic Blacks and Asian/Pacific Islanders continue to have an increasing incidence of serous and clear cell ovarian carcinomas.