The impact of race on survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a matched analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) exhibits significant prognostic differences in Chinese versus white patients.
METHODS: From the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database for the time period 1988 to 2000, all cases of NPC were extracted and staging variables computed. To each case of NPC diagnosed in a Chinese patient, a case of NPC in a white patient was randomly matched for age at diagnosis, gender, grade, stage, and treatment modality. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was then conducted for the matched groups comparing overall survival and disease-specific survival both for the overall matched cohort and stage stratified cohorts.
RESULTS: Among 1,520 cases of NPC, 338 were identified in Chinese patients with staging information. Of these, 171 were successfully matched to white patients. Average age at presentation was 51.5 years with a 3:1 male predominance. Overall survival was substantially better for Chinese patients (mean survival, 94 months; median survival, 95 months) than for white patients (81 months and 64 months, P =.037). Stratified for stage, overall survival was better for Chinese patients for stage 3 but not stage 4 disease (P =.012 and P =.447, respectively). Disease-specific survival was not substantially different between Chinese patients (mean survival, 116 months) and white patients (mean survival 117 months, P =.99). No differences in disease-specific survival were identified for race when stratified by stage (all P >.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Although overall survival is better for Chinese patients with NPC compared with white patients, disease-specific survival is similar between these racial groups. These data suggest that the biological behavior of NPC is relatively independent of race.