Medicaid insurance associated with higher rate of metastatic sarcoma at diagnosis

Among adults with soft-tissue sarcomas, having Medicaid insurance or no insurance is associated with the presence of metastases at the time of diagnosis, according to a new study.

In this cross-sectional study, data from 47,337 patients with first primary malignant sarcoma (63.3% non-Hispanic White; 12.0% non-Hispanic Black; 15.8% Hispanic; and 8.8% American Indian–Alaskan Native and Asian Pacific Islander), were analyzed to determine the odds of presenting with metastases at diagnosis.

In adults with liposarcoma there was a significant trend in incidence across socioeconomic status levels. For the majority of sarcoma subtypes, adults with Medicaid or no insurance had increased odds of metastases at diagnosis when compared with having non-Medicaid insurance; osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma were the only subtypes that did not have this association.

Non-Hispanic Black adults diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma or unclassified sarcomas were found to be at an increased risk of presenting with metastases compared with non-Hispanic White adults that was independent of socioeconomic and insurance status.

Reference
Diessner BJ, Weigel BJ, Murugan P, Zhang L, Poynter JN, Spector LG. Associations of socioeconomic status, public vs private insurance, and race/ethnicity with metastatic sarcoma at aiagnosis. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(8):e2011087. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.11087.