UAB Department of Neurosurgery Professor and James Garber Galbraith Endowed Chair of Neurosurgery James Markert, M.D., MPH, and PGY-5 Neurosurgery Resident Dago Estevez-Ordonez, M.D., are among the authors of a recent study published in Cancer titled, “Racial and socioeconomic disparities in glioblastoma outcomes: A single-center, retrospective cohort study.”
 
This study is the first of its kind to investigate racial and socioeconomic disparities controlling for isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation and O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) status.
 
By examining adult patients with glioblastoma, univariable and multivariable complete survival analyses were performed and the effects of race and socioeconomic status were assessed. 
 
This study concluded that there are significant racial and socioeconomic disparities that influence glioblastoma patient outcomes, and that overall, African Americans have a more favorable survival.  
 
Glioblastomas, although the most common type of primary malignant central nervous system tumor in adults, remain inevitably lethal. 
 
Other authors from the Department of Neurosurgery include PGY-5 Neurosurgery Residents Nicholas Laskay, M.D., and Travis Atchley, M.D.