T1 Glottic Carcinoma: Do Comorbidities, Facility Characteristics, and Sociodemographics Explain Survival Differences across Treatment Types?

OBJECTIVE: Recent large-scale studies have observed differences in survival following treatment for early laryngeal carcinoma depending on treatment type but were not able to take sociodemographic, comorbidity, and facility data into account. The objective of this study was to determine whether survival differences across treatment types persist when these factors are included in the analysis. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort analysis. SETTING: Linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)–Medicare data files. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Medicare beneficiaries who were identified through the SEER registries (1991-2009) as having T1 glottic squamous cell carcinoma (scca) and a known treatment type were included. RESULTS: A total of 2338 patients with incident T1 glottic scca were identified. Most were white and male. Treatment type was radiation only in 47%, local surgery and radiation in 39%, and local surgery only in 14%. Black race and increased comorbidities were associated with worse survival. When sociodemographics, comorbidities, and facility characteristics were taken into account, survival differences were observed across treatment types, with those receiving local surgery demonstrating better overall and cancer-specific survival. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that following treatment of T1 glottic scca, there may be survival differences across treatment types beyond those explained by sociodemographic, comorbidity, and facility characteristics.