Abstract
BACKGROUND: In many cancers, racial and socioeconomic disparities exist regarding the extent of surgery. For ovarian dysgerminoma, fertility-sparing (FS) surgery is recommended whenever possible. The aim of this study was to investigate rates of FS versus non-fertility-sparing (NFS) procedures for stage I ovarian dysgerminoma in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) by ethnicity/race and socioeconomic status. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The National Cancer Data Base was queried for patients with ovarian dysgerminoma from 1998 to 2012. After selecting patients aged 15-39 y with stage I disease, a multivariate regression analysis was performed, and rates of FS and NFS procedures were compared, first according to ethnicity/race, and then by socioeconomic surrogate variables. RESULTS: Among the 687 AYAs with stage I ovarian dysgerminoma, there was no significant difference in rates of FS and NFS procedures based on ethnicity/race alone (P = 0.17), but there was a significant difference in procedure type for all three socioeconomic surrogates. The uninsured had higher NFS rates (30%) than those with government (21%) or private (19%) insurance (P = 0.036). Those in the poorest ZIP codes had almost twice the rate of NFS procedures (31%) compared with those in the most affluent ZIP codes (17%). For those in the least-educated regions, 24% underwent NFS procedures compared to 14% in the most-educated areas (P = 0.027). CONCLUSIONS: AYAs with stage I ovarian dysgerminoma in lower socioeconomic groups were more likely to undergo NFS procedures than those in higher socioeconomic groups, but there was no difference in rates of FS versus NFS procedures by ethnicity/race. Approaches aimed at reducing socioeconomic disparities require further examination.