SDoH Impact COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Among Patients With Cancer

A recent study indicated patient age, cancer type, comorbidity, area-level education attainment, and unemployment rates affected COVID-19 vaccination rates among patients with cancer.

“The availability of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines has enabled protections against serious COVID-19 outcomes, which are particularly important for patients with cancer,” said researchers. 

Researchers studied patient data from 56 medical oncology practices included in the American Society of Clinical Oncology Registry. The study cohort included 1155 patients who experienced severe COVID-19 infections in 2020. Patients also needed to have visit and vaccine data after December 31, 2020. 

Patient outcomes were evaluated for associations between vaccination status and patient, clinical, and area-level social determinant of health (SDoH) variables. Researchers measured the time to vaccine uptake and factors associated with vaccine receipt with cumulative incidence estimates and Cox regression with death as an alternative risk factor.

With a median time to vaccination of 99 days, almost 62% (690 patients) of the total patient cohort received the first vaccine dose. Of these patients, 92% received the second dose. 

Several variables were associated with vaccine uptake rates, according to the findings. Older patients were more likely to be vaccinated than patients aged 50 years or younger.

“Age exhibited a linear effect, with older patients showing higher rates of vaccination,” researchers found.

Patients were more likely to have lower vaccination rates if they had metastatic solid or non-B-cell hematologic tumors, as compared to patients with nonmetastatic solid tumors. The presence of comorbidities was also associated with lower vaccine uptake.

Additionally, those who had lower education attainment and higher rates of unemployment were more likely to have lower vaccination rates, findings showed. 

“These findings should inform strategies to communicate about vaccine safety and efficacy to patients with cancer,” researchers said. 

Reference:
Kurbegov D, Bruinooge SS, Lei XJ, et al. Rate of COVID-19 vaccination among patients with cancer who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2: Analysis of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Registry. Cancer. Published online March 15, 2023. doi:10.1002/cncr.34726