Racial disparities and trends in the in-hospital mortality for malignant prostate cancer.

39 Background: Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death among men in the United States (U.S). Despite therapeutic advances, racial disparities persist, with African American men experiencing higher incidence and poorer survival. Data on racial differences in inpatient outcomes, particularly in-hospital mortality, remain limited. This study evaluated racial and ethnic variations in in-hospital mortality among patients hospitalized with malignant prostate cancer (MPC) in the U.S. Methods: The U.S National Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 2016 to 2020 was queried for patients diagnosed with MPC. We used International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) code “C61” to identify patients who were hospitalized for MPC. The study was exempt from institutional review board approval as the NIS database contains deidentified patient information. Multivariable regression analysis was performed to determine the odds of in-hospital mortality among patients with MPC. Multivariable logistic regression followed by marginal effects was used to plot yearly trends in in-hospital mortality. All the outcomes were adjusted for age, gender, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) and hospital characteristics. All Statistical analyses were conducted using STATA 19 software. Results: The current retrospective study analyzed 98,000 patients hospitalized for MPC between 2016 to 2020. The racial distribution among study patients included: Whites (68,000; 69.4%), African Americans (17,738; 18.1%), Hispanics (7,154; 7.3%), and other minorities (5,098; 5.2%). African Americans were more likely to be hospitalized at a relatively younger age, and with a higher co-morbidity burden (mean age: 69.4 years; mean CCI: 5.5; p<0.01) when compared to Whites (mean age: 73 years; mean CCI: 4.8), Hispanics (mean age: 71.1 years; mean CCI: 5.1) and other minorities (mean age: 71.5 years; mean CCI: 5.0). A total of 3,626 (3.7%) patients died during the study period. On multivariable analysis, a higher absolute in-hospital mortality was observed in African Americans (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.07 – 1.22, p <0.01) and other minorities (OR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.06 – 1.34, p <0.01), when compared to Whites (OR: reference). Similarly, an increasing trend of in-hospital mortality was observed in African Americans (from 1.6% mortality per annum in 2016 to 2.0% in 2020; trend p <0.01) and Hispanics (from 1.1% mortality per annum in 2016 to 1.6% in 2020; trend p = 0.02). No change in mortality was observed among Whites (trend p = 0.171) and other minorities (trend p = 0.479) during the study period. Conclusions: Racial disparities persist in in-hospital outcomes among patients with MPC in the U.S. African American and Hispanic patients experienced increasing in-hospital mortality over time, highlighting the need for targeted interventions to address inequities in access, comorbidity management, and inpatient care.