Is mortality-to-incidence ratio associated with health disparity in pancreatic cancer? A cross-sectional database analysis of 57 countries

OBJECTIVE: The colorectal cancer mortality-to-incidence ratio (MIR) can reflect healthcare disparities. However, a similar association has not yet been established between the MIR of pancreatic cancer and healthcare disparities. METHODS: In this study, the incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer were obtained from the GLOBOCAN 2012 database. The WHO rankings and total expenditures on health/gross domestic product (e/GDP) were obtained from a public database. Linear regression was performed to determine correlations between the variables. RESULTS: 57 countries met the inclusion criteria according to the data quality. Developed regions (Europe and the Americas) had high pancreatic cancer incidence and mortality rates. The MIRs were over 0.90 in all regions. No significant correlation was found between MIRs and the WHO rankings, e/GDP or per capita total expenditure on health for analysis in the 57 countries, indicating no association between MIRs and cancer care disparities for pancreatic cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The MIR variations for pancreatic cancer do not correlate with healthcare disparities among countries. Further investigation is necessary to confirm this observation with secondary analysis of databases.