Demographic factors impacting time to diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

e18660 Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Symptoms often include a palpable mass or fever; however, patients can be asymptomatic until the presentation of an oncological emergency, such as end organ complications or tumor lysis syndrome. Delayed diagnosis is related to spinal cord compression and an increased rate of complications from chemotherapy. We investigated factors impacting time until diagnosis. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of DLBCL patients from the Montefiore Health System to determine how demographic factors impacted the time from initial symptom onset until diagnosis. Logistic regression models estimated the associations between race, socioeconomic status, and primary language spoken at home and increased time to diagnosis, stratified by insurance status. Odds ratios for increased time to diagnosis based on language were calculated, based on the number of participants with a time to diagnosis above the median value. Results: In a cohort of 1,076 patients that was 24.7% non-Hispanic White, 26.5% non-Hispanic Black, 7.25% Hispanic, and 41.5% “Other” as per information from Epic, the average time from symptom onset until DLBCL diagnosis was 115.76 days. Average time until diagnosis differed by race: Non-Hispanic White participants had the highest, while Hispanic participants had the lowest (188.4 vs 85.8, p = 0.03). Average age at diagnosis also differed by race: Non-Hispanic Black patients had the lowest age, whereas non-Hispanic White patients had the highest (57.3 vs. 67.4, p < 0.0001). Relative to patients with a preferred language of English, patients who had a preferred language that was Spanish (adjusted OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 0.97-4.06, p = 0.059), or “other” had an increased odds ratio of increased time to diagnosis (adjusted OR = 3.15, 95% CI = 1.01-9.75, p = 0.047). Conclusions: Non-English speaking patients experienced increased time to diagnosis, with non-Spanish speaking patients experiencing an even higher increase in time to diagnosis of DLBCL. Differences by racial or ethnic group supported the finding that primary Spanish speakers experience increased times until diagnosis – Hispanic participants had a lower average time to diagnosis than other racial or ethnic groups, suggesting that the effect of language alone may be greater than this analysis suggested when race and ethnicity is controlled for. Interventions targeted at increasing resources for non-English speaking patients in our diverse patient population, such as increasing the availability of interpretation services, patient literature on preventative screenings in non-English languages, and increasing the number of healthcare workers with competency in common foreign languages, may potentially reduce DLBCL morbidity.