Ethnic disparities in demographic, clinicopathologic and biological behaviours and prognosis of gastric cancer in northwest China

Abstract

This retrospective study aimed to investigate ethnic disparities in demographic, clinicopathologic, and biological behaviours of gastric cancer (GC) in a high GC incidence area of China. There were 5022 GC patients, including 3987 Han (79.4%) and 987 Hui (14.4%) patients from Northwest China. All patient data were retrieved from 2009 to 2017. Median survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the impact of covariates. Similarly, low 5-year OS rates were observed in both the Hui and Han groups (23.8% and 24.2% respectively). Hui patients with stage T1 or N0 or with tumours <5 cm had 2.144-fold, 1.426-fold and 1.305-fold increased risks of poor prognosis compared with Han patients with these characteristics respectively (all p < 0.05). Further, Hui patients had 1.265-fold, 1.364-fold and 1.401-fold increased risks of poor prognosis compared with Han patients among those with high expression of Ki67, EGFR and VEGF respectively (all p < 0.05). There are ethnic disparities in the prognosis of GC patients in Northwest China. Understanding the effects of ethnicity on GC will guide reasonable evaluations of prognosis and future interventions to equalise access to high-quality care for GC patients of different ethnicities in China.