The Influence of Race on Overall Survival in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Bladder Cancer

Prognostic factors and nomogram for the overall survival of bladder cancer bone metastasis: A SEER-based study

Bone metastasis has a poor prognosis in patients with bladder cancer (BC). This study aimed to construct a prognostic nomogram for predicting the overall survival of patients with bone-metastatic BC (BMBC). The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was used to recruit patients with BMBC between 2010 and 2018. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to screen for prognostic factors and construct a nomogram. Harrell concordance index, receiver operating characteristic curve, and calibration curve were used to verify the prognostic nomograms. All statistical analyses and chart formation were performed using SPSS 23.0 and R software 4.1.2. A total of 1361 patients diagnosed with BMBC were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Six independent prognostic factors, including marital status, histological type, T stage, other metastases, surgery, and chemotherapy, were identified and included in the nomogram construction. Among them, chemotherapy contributed the most to the prognosis in the nomogram. The concordance index of the nomogram was 0.745 and 0.753 in the training and validation groups, respectively, and all values of the area under the curve were >0.77. The calibration curves showed perfect consistency between the observed and predicted survival rates. The prognostic nomogram developed in this study is expected to become an accurate and individualized tool for predicting overall survival in patients with BMBC and providing guidance for appropriate treatment or care.

The Impact of Race and Sex on Metastatic Bladder Cancer Survival

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the epidemiological profile of metastatic bladder cancer (BC) and assess mortality rate with respect to race and gender across the three most common histologies of bladder cancer-Transitional Cell Carcinoma, Adenocarcinoma, and SCC (Squamous Cell Carcinoma).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program database (2000-2017) was queried for all metastatic bladder cancer patients at presentation. Our primary exposure consists of four race/gender combinations. One-way ANOVA and Chi-square tests compared categorical and continuous variables across the exposure variable, respectively. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to examine the association between race/gender combinations and the overall and cancer specific survival adjusting for the other variables.

RESULTS

A total of 312,846 bladder cancer patients, 6337 with distant metastases and 11,446 with regional metastases were evaluated. Black female cancer specific survival in metastatic disease was disproportionally lower compared to all race/gender for Transitional Cell Carcinoma 4.3% (95% CI: 1.6-8.9), SCC 2.6% (95% CI: 0.2-11.8), and Adenocarcinoma 6.4% (0.4%-25%). In regional metastastatic disease, worse cancer specific mortality was associated with identifying as a Black Female (aHR 1.17, P = .023), SCC (aHR 1.8, P <.001), increasing age (aHR 1.3, P <.001), and poorly differentiated grade (aHR 2.01, P <.001).

CONCLUSION

Black females experience excess mortality in overall and cancer oncologic outcomes in metastatic BC. Our findings contribute to the body of research warranting examination of the impact of social determinants of health and provider decisions on BC survivorship and contribute to physician decision making in the treatment and surveillance of bladder cancer.

OUTCOMES OF INTRAVESICAL BACILLUS CALMETTE-GUERIN IN A MULTIRACIAL COHORT WITH NON-MUSCLE-INVASIVE BLADDER CANCER

Introduction

We sought to determine if outcomes of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) vary by race.

Methods

A retrospective chart review was conducted on 149 patients treated with BCG for intermediate- and high-risk NMIBC between 2001 and 2018, and who were followed up for cancer recurrence through March 2019.The primary outcomes were disease-free survival (DFS), low-grade disease-free survival (LGDFS), high-grade disease-free survival (HGDFS), and progression-free survival (PFS) at five years. Kaplan-Meier survival curves stratified by race (African American vs non-African American) were analyzed for all the above outcomes and multivariate Cox regression analyses were also performed to compare recurrence differences by race, after adjusting for age, sex, initial stage and grade.

Results

Of the 149 patients, 37.6% were Caucasian, 24.8% were African American, 26.8% were Hispanic, and 10.7% were of other/unknown race. Disease stage at initial presentation was 65.1% Ta, 34.9% T1, and 18.1% CIS. African American patients (N=37) did not have evidence for worse outcomes compared to non-African American patients when considering DFS (54.1% vs. 65.7%, p = 0.202), HGDFS (58.8% vs. 71.7%, p = 0.158), and PFS (83.8% vs. 92.6%, p = 0.117) at five years. Multivariate analysis did not reveal statistically significant racial differences in recurrence or progression.

Conclusions

African Americans with NMIBC did not have worse disease recurrence and progression after receiving intravesical BCG treatment. Although there did appear to be a trend towards worse oncologic outcomes in African Americans, larger studies are needed to validate this finding.

Re-operation within 30 days of radical cystectomy: Identifying high-risk patients and complications using American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database

INTRODUCTION

Radical cystectomy (RC) is a highly morbid procedure, with 30-day complication rates approaching 31%. Our objective was to determine risk factors for re-operation within 30 days following a RC for non-metastatic bladder cancer.

METHODS

We included all patients who underwent a RC for non-metastatic bladder cancer using The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2014. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate predictors of re-operation.

RESULTS

A total of 2608 patients were included; 5.8% of patients underwent re-operation within 30 days. On multivariable analysis, increasing body mass index (BMI) (odds ratio [OR] 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.07), African American race (vs. Caucasian OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.21-4.34), and history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.45-3.74) were significant predictors of re-operation within 30 days of RC. Urinary diversion type (ileal conduit vs. continent) and history of chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 30 days prior to RC were not. Patients who underwent re-operation within this timeframe had a significantly higher mortality rate (4.0% vs. 1.6%) and were more likely to experience cardiac (7.2% vs. 1.9%), pulmonary (23.0% vs. 3.0%), neurological (2.0% vs. 0.49%), and venous thromboembolic events (10.5% vs. 5.4%), as well as infectious complications (64.5% vs. 24.1%), with a significantly longer hospital length of stay (16.5 vs. 7.0 days).

CONCLUSIONS

Recognizing increasing BMI, COPD, and African American race as risk factors for re-operation within 30 days of RC will allow urologists to preoperatively identify such high-risk patients and prompt them to adopt more aggressive approaches to minimize postoperative surgical complications.

Disparities in Bladder Cancer Outcomes Based on Key Sociodemographic Characteristics

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

A review of the impact of several key patient characteristics on oncologic outcomes in bladder cancer (BC) summarized and analyzed in a narrative fashion.

RECENT FINDINGS

The bulk of the published literature suggests that females and blacks have poorer cancer-specific outcomes. Both groups tend to present with worse disease, which may be driven by differences in access to timely and quality care. Attempts to assess the association between smoking status and history and BC outcomes have been hindered by the quality and heterogeneity of the data, although several studies have linked smoking with higher rates of recurrence and poorer survival. Being married, particularly in men, may improve survival after radical cystectomy (RC). Limited data suggests that socioeconomic and education levels may be associated with poorer survival; however, the data is limited. A growing body of investigation suggests that there are significant differences in oncologic outcomes in BC patients based on race, gender, smoking status, socioeconomic status, and others. Further focus and investigation is needed to validate these findings, investigate the root cause of these differences, and offer solutions to mitigate them.

An eight-long non-coding RNA signature as a candidate prognostic biomarker for bladder cancer

Backgroud: Bladder cancer (BLCA) is one of the most fatal types of cancer worldwide. However, there are limited methods for us to provide a prognostic prediction of BLCA patients. Therefore, we aimed at developing a lncRNA signature to improve the prognosis prediction of BLCA.

RESULTS

An eight-lncRNA signature was significantly associated with recurrence free survival in BLCA patients from both discovery and validation groups. Furthermore, genes involved in the signature were enriched in extracellular matrix organization pathway. Finally, functional experiments demonstrated that six out of the eight lncRNAs significantly regulated the invasion of BLCA cells.

METHOD

A total of 343 BLCA patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were employed and randomly divided into training (n=172) and validating (n=171) groups. The lncRNA expression profiles of BLCA patients were screened and a risk-score formula were created and validated according to the Cox regression analysis. Next, WGCNA method was employed to cluster genes that highly correlated with the risk scores based on the profiling data of TCGA dataset and transwell assay was also performed to further investigate the role of these lncRNAs.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggested that the eight-lncRNA signature was a candidate prognostic biomarker for predicting tumor recurrence of patients with BLCA.