Socioeconomic factors may contribute to neoadjuvant chemotherapy use in metastatic epithelial ovarian carcinoma

Objective.To identify patient characteristics which predict receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) versus standard therapy (ST) in metastatic ovarian cancer.Methods.A retrospective matched case control study was conducted of 52 women treated with NCT compared to 104 women who received standard treatment from 1996 to 2007. The t test was used for comparison of means between the groups, and the χ2 test was used for categorical data. Multivariable analysis was performed with logistic regression models and only two-tailed analyses with a P value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.Results.Age, employment and marital status, and insurance alone did not affect treatment allocation (P = NS). However, non-Hispanic White (NHW) patients were more as likely to receive ST (P < 0.05). When insurance was stratified by ethnicity, NHW patients were twice as likely to have private insurance (OR = 2.29, CI = 1.16–4.53). Furthermore, medically compromised (MC) patients who were NHW were almost three times more likely to receive ST (OR = 2.72, CI = 1.02–5.00). In multivariate analysis, only MC and publically funded women were more likely to receive NCT (OR 3.83 CI = 1.35–11.11); P = 0.01). During surgery, patients receiving NCT were found to have smaller tumors and less ascites, and were more likely to be optimally debulked with lower estimated blood loss and shorter hospital stays. The median survival for ST was 55.8 months versus 26 months for NCT (P < 0.001).Conclusions.Non-clinical factors such as publically funded status and non-Hispanic White race may influence the allocation of NCT for women with metastatic ovarian cancer.