Quiz: Are You Aware of Multiple Myeloma–Related Disparities?

Question 1

Answer

A.True

According to a recent analysis of 35,842 Medicare patients, rates for all MDEs at the time of diagnosis increased between 1991 and 2006, after which rates for all MDEs except renal dialysis declined, reflecting treatment advances, improved supportive care, and possibly, the initiation of treatment at earlier stages of disease.

Question 2

Answer

B.Black men

African-American men have an incidence rate of 15.9 per 100,000 people, according to the US National Cancer Institute website. Black women have an incidence rate of 11.4 per 100,000, compared to 7.8 and 4.6 among white men and women, 4.7 and 3.2 among Asian men and women, and 7.7 and 4.9 per 100,000 among Hispanic men and women, respectively. When data for all races and ethnicities are combined, the national incidence rate of multiple myeloma is 8.3/100,000 among men and 5.2/100,000 among women.

Question 3

Answer

A.Black people

According to a recent analysis of Medicare beneficiaries, despite disparities in treatment and complication rates, African Americans have longer overall survival times than other groups, perhaps suggesting a lower incidence of biologically aggressive variants of this malignancy.

Question 4

Answer

A.Black people

According to a recent analysis of Medicare beneficiaries, other than bone fractures, African Americans have higher incidence of MDEs (such as anemia, dialysis, and hypercalcemia) than other myeloma patients.

Question 5

Answer

C.Hispanic people

A 2017 analysis of data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Medicare database found that despite large increases over time in the administration of IMiDs to all populations of patients with multiple myeloma, Hispanic people received these agents more frequently than Asian, white, or black people. African-American patients were treated with lenalidomide significantly less frequently than other groups.