Neighborhood-Level Factors Contribute to Disparities in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Incidence in Texas

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Texas has the highest hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence rates in the continental United States, but these rates vary by race-ethnicity. We examined racial-ethnic disparities through a geospatial analysis of the social determinants of health. METHODS: Using data from the Texas Cancer Registry, we assembled 11,547 HCC cases diagnosed between 2011 and 2015 into Texas's census tracts geographic units. Twenty-nine neighborhood measures representing demographics and socioeconomic, and employment domains were retrieved from the U. S. Census Bureau. We performed a series of aspatial and spatially weighted regression models to identify neighborhood-level characteristics associated with HCC risk. RESULTS: We found positive associations between HCC and proportion of population in census tracts that are Black or African American, Hispanic, over 60 years of age, in the construction industry, and in the service occupation but an inverse association with the proportion of population employed in the agricultural industry. The magnitude of these associations varied across Texas census tracts. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence that neighborhood-level factors are differentially associated with variations in HCC incidence across Texas. Our findings reinforce existing knowledge about HCC risk factors and expose others, including neighborhood-level employment status.

Automated summary

By conducting a geospatial analysis of the social determinants of health, we identified racial-ethnic disparities in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence rates in Texas. Our findings showed positive associations between HCC and the proportion of Black or African American, Hispanic, over 60 years of age, in the construction industry, and in the service occupation populations in census tracts, while an inverse association was found with the proportion of population employed in the agricultural industry. These associations varied across Texas census tracts.