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. 2004 Jun;96(6):809–816.

Disparities in prevalence rates for lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers in Medicaid.

C Daniel Mullins 1, Jesse L Cooke Jr 1, Junling Wang 1, Fadia T Shaya 1, Doren Van Hsu 1, Sandra Brooks 1
PMCID: PMC2568358  PMID: 15233491

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Given previous reports of variations in prevalence of cancer in low-income individuals, we sought to determine if disparities in cancer prevalence existed in a similarly-insured Medicaid population. METHODS: Using Maryland Medicaid administrative claims data, prevalence rates of lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers were calculated for Maryland Medicaid recipients who were continuously eligible during the period from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2000. Chi-squared tests were used to test the differences across subgroups. Cancer prevalence data were age-adjusted using Maryland Medicaid enrollees as the standard population. RESULTS: The care prevalence rates for lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers were 75/10,000, 63/10,000, 92/10,000, and 45/10,000, respectively. These rates were 1.2 to 5.2 times those reported at the national level. Generally, higher cancer prevalence rates in certain racial groups in Maryland Medicaid were consistent with previous studies. Regional differences in cancer prevalence existed for each cancer studied. CONCLUSIONS: Limiting our study sample to a population of uniformly low socioeconomic individuals did not eliminate the disparity in prevalence rates between blacks and whites. Different patterns of racial disparity across regions reported by previous researchers might be due to small area variation in addition to socioeconomic status.

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Selected References

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