Page 185 - Read Online

Kaufman et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:13 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2018.25 Metastasis and Treatment

Review Open Access

A review of the effects of healthcare disparities
on the experience and survival of ovarian cancer

patients of different racial and ethnic backgrounds

Matthew Kaufman , Ana Cruz , Janese Thompson , Srinivasa Reddy , Nisha Bansal , Joshua G. Cohen ,
1
1
1
2
1
1
Yanyuan Wu , Jay Vadgama , Robin Farias-Eisner 1
3
3
1 Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA.
2 School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN 37208, USA.
3 Internal Medicine, Charles Drew University, Los Angeles, CA 90059, USA.
Correspondence to: Dr. Robin Farias-Eisner, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of California, 200 UCLA Medical Plaza Suite
220, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA. E-mail: rfeisner@mednet.ucla.edu
How to cite this article: Kaufman M, Cruz A, Thompson J, Reddy S, Bansal N, Cohen JG, Wu Y, Vadgama J, Farias-Eisner R.
A review of the effects of healthcare disparities on the experience and survival of ovarian cancer patients of different racial and
ethnic backgrounds. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:13. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2018.25

Received: 13 Apr 2018 First Decision: 13 Jun 2018 Revised: 30 Nov 2018 Accepted: 13 Dec 2018 Published: 27 Feb 2019

Science Editor: Umberto Galderisi Copy Editor: Cui Yu Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract
Ovarian cancer (OC) is a serious condition that often presents at advanced stages and has high mortality
rates, with the current mode of early-stage screening lacking sensitivity and specificity. OC often presents
asymptomatically, which renders early diagnosis difficult. Furthermore, many patients lack significant risk factors
or family history of the disease. Five-year survival rates differ between patients with OC among racial, ethnic,
and social groups as a result of different social barriers. This review article aims to present the currently existing
data regarding health care disparities among OC patients of different ethnic, demographic, and socioeconomic
backgrounds, and what next steps should be taken to better understand and eventually eliminate these
potentially devastating health care disparities. Increasing data support the notion that a combination of genomic,
socioeconomic status, social factors, and cultural differences lead to differential treatments and therefore health
care disparities. While genomic and biological factors are important, language barriers, geographic and travel
barriers, differences in comorbidity likelihood between populations, and different treatment plans seem to have
a greater impact on 5-year survival rates of patients from diverse backgrounds. Language barriers limit a shared-
decision model of care. Transportation limitations and geographic differences can lead to limited follow-up and
insufficient care in resource and equipment restrictive settings. Patients with these barriers also tend to have a
higher incidence of comorbidities that raise the mortality rate of OC. Further research needs to explore effective

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

www.jcmtjournal.com