Differences in receipt of multimodality therapy by race, insurance status, and socioeconomic disadvantage in patients with resected pancreatic cancer

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: Racial and socioeconomic disparities in receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy affect patients with pancreatic cancer. However, differences in receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy among patients undergoing resection are not well‐understood. A retrospective cross‐sectional cohort of patients with resected AJCC Stage I/II pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma was identified from the National Cancer Database (2014–2017). Outcomes included receipt of neoadjuvant versus adjuvant chemotherapy, or receipt of either, defined as multimodality therapy and were assessed by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Of 19 588 patients, 5098 (26%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 9624 (49.1%) received adjuvant chemotherapy only, and 4757 (24.3%) received no chemotherapy. On multivariable analysis, Black patients had lower odds of neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared to White patients (OR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.67–0.97) but no differences in receipt of multimodality therapy (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.77–1.03). Patients with Medicaid or no insurance, low educational attainment, or low median income had significantly lower odds of receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy or multimodality therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Racial and socioeconomic disparities persist in receipt of neoadjuvant and multimodality therapy in patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma. DISCUSSION: Policy and interventional implementations are needed to bridge the continued socioeconomic and racial disparity gap in pancreatic cancer care.