Socioeconomic Factors Associated With a Late-Stage Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis: An Analysis of the National Cancer Database

Background Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is an aggressive, lethal cancer. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States and is often asymptomatic until later stages. Thus, it is critical to identify patients earlier in their disease course. Socioeconomic factors can assist in determining who is at higher risk of presenting at later stages of the disease. Using the National Cancer Database (NCDB), we aim to identify the associations between socioeconomic factors and the stage of pancreatic cancer at diagnosis. Methodology In this study, 256,822 patients from the NCDB who were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer from 2004 to 2018 at stage 0-I and stage IV were compared based on age, race, sex, ethnicity, insurance type, income, geographic location, education, and Charlson-Deyo score. Demographic factors of patients who presented with early and late-stage disease were compared using the chi-squared test and multivariate logistic regression. Results We identified significant associations between race, sex, insurance status, education, income, and geographic location with the stage of disease at diagnosis. Males were more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage cancer than early-stage (52.8% vs. 47.9%, p < 0.001). Females were more likely to have an earlier-stage diagnosis when compared to males (odds ratio (OR) = 0.857, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.839-0.875, p < 0.001). Black patients presented at a later stage when compared to White patients (OR = 1.106, 95% CI = 1.069-1.144, p < 0.001). Private and Medicaid insurance had higher rates of late-stage diagnosis than early stages, and all other types of insurance had lower rates of late-stage diagnosis than patients without insurance (p < 0.001). Patients from a zip code with less than $38,000 median household income and zip codes with lower levels of high school graduation had higher rates of late-stage diagnosis (p < 0.025). Conclusions Factors associated with the increased likelihood of pancreatic cancer presentation at the advanced stage compared to the early stage include multiple minority and traditionally underserved populations. Black race, underinsurance, or residing in low-income or low-education zip codes was significantly associated with presenting at a late stage, which is strongly associated with worse survival outcomes.