Racial and ethnic disparities in childhood and young adult acute lymphocytic leukaemia: secondary analyses of eight Children’s Oncology Group cohort trials

Gupta S, Dai Y, Chen Z, Winestone LE, Teachey DT, Bona K, Aplenc R, Rabin KR, Zweidler-McKay P, Carroll AJ, Heerema NA, Gastier-Foster J, Borowitz MJ, Wood BL, Maloney KW, Mattano LA Jr, Larsen EC, Angiolillo AL, Burke MJ, Salzer WL, Winter SS, Brown PA, Guest EM, Dunsmore KP, Kairalla JA, Winick NJ, Carroll WL, Raetz EA, Hunger SP, Loh ML, Devidas M. Racial and ethnic disparities in childhood and young adult acute lymphocytic leukaemia: secondary analyses of eight Children’s Oncology Group cohort trials. Lancet Haematol. 2023 Feb;10(2):e129-e141. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(22)00371-4. PubMed PMID: 36725118; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9951049.

Previous studies identified racial and ethnic disparities in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) survival. We aimed to determine whether disparities persist in contemporaneous cohorts and if present, are attributable to differences in leukemia biology or insurance status. Patients with newly diagnosed ALL, 0–30 years of age, enrolled on completed Children’s Oncology Group (COG) trials between 2004–2019 were included (NCT00103285, NCT00075725, NCT00408005, NCT01190930, NCT02883049, NCT02112916, NCT02828358, NCT00557193). Race/ethnicity was categorized as non-Hispanic White, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic Asian, and non-Hispanic Other. Event-free and overall survival (EFS, OS) were compared across race/ethnicity. The relative contribution of clinical and biologic disease prognosticators and insurance status was examined through multivariable regression models.