Inequities in Time to Treat Thyroid Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine socioeconomic and demographic factors which may contribute to inequities in time to treat thyroid cancer.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

We used data from the National Cancer Database, 2004-2019, to conduct an analysis of thyroid cancer patients. All (434,083) patients with thyroid cancer, including papillary (395,598), follicular (23,494), medullary (7,638), and anaplastic (7,353) types were included. We compared the wait time from diagnosis to first treatment, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy for patients based on age, race, sex, location, and socioeconomic status (SES).

RESULTS

A total of 434,083 patients with thyroid cancer were included. Hispanic patients had significantly longer wait times to all treatments compared to non-Hispanic patients (first treatment 33.44 vs. 20.45 days, surgery 40.06 vs. 26.49 days, radiotherapy 114.68 vs. 96.42 days, chemotherapy 92.70 vs. 58.71 days). Uninsured patients, patients at academic facilities, and patients in metropolitan areas also had the longest wait times to treatment.

CONCLUSION

This study identified multiple disparities related to SES and demographics that correspond to delays in time to treatment. It is crucial that this topic is investigated further to help mitigate these incongruities in thyroid cancer care in the future.