Factors affecting time to treatment in hepatocellular cancer.

e19088 Background: Significant disparities in the stage at diagnosis and survival outcomes exist between various groups diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on sex, race, insurance coverage, and marital status. Previously published data shows disparities more in patients who are African-American, Asian and low income. Little data has been published on factors that influence timeliness to treatment initiation in patients diagnosed with HCC. Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on 96,586 patients diagnosed with HCC from 2004-2014 using data in the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Time to treatment was divided into two categories: ≤40 days (early, n = 66322) and > 40 days (late, n = 30264). We carried out univariate and multivariate analyses to compare demographic, clinical, treatment, and facility-related factors influencing the timeliness of treatment initiation in HCC. Results: Univariate analysis revealed a significant difference in time to treatment initiation based on age, race, income, insurance status, type of area, geographic region, type of facility, and cancer stage (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that household income < $30,000/year, Pacific region, urban area of residence, black race, age 70-79 years old or ≥80 years old, academic centers, stage II disease and medicaid insurance were all factors with longer time to treatment initiation. Discussion: HCC is the sixth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. The 5-year relative survival for localized, regional, and distant stages are 32.6%, 10.8% and 2.4% respectively. In our results we noted significant disparities in time to treatment with respect to various socioeconomic factors. These results are comparable to that reported in other cancer types. Further subgroup analysis of our data shows 2581 patients who received their first treatment after 200 days. In a similar study done in Taiwan, those treated more than 181 days and 61–180 days after diagnosis had a 1.68 and a 1.39 increased risk of death respectively, which were statistically significant. Many factors contribute to delayed treatment, some of which are difficult to circumvent, however where possible efforts should be made to overcome these. Conclusions: Various socioeconomic factors were found to affect the time to treatment initiation in HCC patients. The next step would be to strategically implement policies and practices to address these factors.