Abstract
e18546 Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 75% of all liver cancer diagnosis in the United States, with incidence rising in recent years. One aspect of treatment is time to treatment initiation (TTI). TTI is associated with better outcomes and lower patient anxiety. We hypothesize that demographic factors play a role in how fast a patient with HCC receives treatment. Methods: This study looked at 112,615 patients diagnosed with HCC from 2004-2019 in the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Demographic factors analyzed were biological sex, race, age, cancer stage, year of diagnosis, insurance status, household income, Charleson-Deyo score, and type of facility for treatment. Histology was determined using ICD-O-3 coding. Cross tabulation analysis was performed using ANOVA. Results: Patients with delayed TTI were more often male, black, stage III, 61-70 years old, on government insurance, diagnosed between 2016-2019, made less than $40,227, and treated at integrated cancer network programs. Patients with no insurance received a TTI 4 days faster than government insurance (p < .001). Patients with lower incomes also experienced greater than 2-day delays in TTI (p < .001) compared to higher incomes. Treatment at an integrated cancer network was associated with a 3-day delay compared to treatment at a community cancer center (p < .001). Males began treatment a half day after female patients (p < .017). Conclusions: Discrepancies exist in TTI for HCC patients, most notably for insurance status, race, year of diagnosis, income, and facility type. This data can be used when determining which patients may experience delays in TTI due to demographic factors.