Sex-Based Differences in Prognosis of Patients With Gastroenteropancreatic-Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: A Population-Based Study.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess sex-based differences in prognosis of a contemporary cohort of gastroenteropancreatic-neuroendocrine neoplasm (GEP-NEN) patients. METHODS Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was accessed, and cases with GEP-NENs were selected. Rates of GEP-NEN diagnosis from 1975 to 2016 for both male patients and female patients were reviewed. Survival outcomes of GEP-NEN patients diagnosed from 2010 to 2014 were determined through Kaplan-Meier estimates and multivariable Cox regression analysis. Overall survival analyses were stratified by stage and histology. RESULTS A total of 20,836 GEP-NEN patients were diagnosed from 2010 to 2014, and they were included in the current analysis. These include 10,336 male patients and 10,500 female patients. Annual percent change for the age-adjusted rate for GEP-NENs in the United States (1975-2016) is 5.0 (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.8-5.2). When stratified by sex, annual percent change for male patients was 4.8 (95% CI, 4.6-5.1), whereas for female patients, it was 5.0 (95% CI, 4.8-5.3). Female patients have better overall survival compared with male patients among all substrata of patients (according to stage, histology, and differentiation) (P for all comparisons < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Female sex seems to be associated with better overall survival among patients with GEP-NENs. It is unclear if this is the result of differences in noncancer mortality or is the result of inherent biological differences.