Association between insurance and socioeconomic status and risk of advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma in adolescents and young adults

BACKGROUND: Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is one of the most common types of cancer among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in the United States. Unfortunately, a greater percentage of AYAs are presenting with an advanced stage of disease at the time of diagnosis compared with their younger counterparts. METHODS: The objective of the current study was to examine the association between possible barriers and characteristics (including gender, race, birthplace, marital status, socioeconomic status [SES], and insurance status) that may increase the risk of advanced stage HL at the time of diagnosis in a large cohort of AYA patients with HL from the California Cancer Registry (7343 incident cases of HL diagnosed from 1988-2006, between ages 15 years-40 years). RESULTS: AYAs with advanced stage HL were more likely to be male, of Hispanic or black race/ethnicity, foreign born, single, of lower SES, and uninsured or to have only public health insurance (P < .05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that there was a significant increase in the odds of having advanced HL in males (odds ratio [OR], 1.57; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.42-1.74 [P < .0001]), those with the lowest SES (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.23-1.75 [P = .0003]), those without health insurance (OR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.34-2.31 [P < .0001]), and those with public health insurance (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.23-1.71 [P < .0001]). CONCLUSIONS: A strong association was found between male gender, lower SES, and lack of health insurance and advanced stage HL at the time of diagnosis in AYAs (See editorial on pages 000-000, this issue.).