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Using SEER-Medicare retrospective cohort data and modified Poisson models, the analysis examines both time trends and racial/ethnic variation in treatment receipt.",{"@graph":14,"@context":76},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/multimorbidity-and-cancer-treatment-among-the-older-patients-in-the-united-states-research-article/350874/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/multimorbidity-and-cancer-treatment-among-the-older-patients-in-the-united-states-research-article/350874.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Logic","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-26","2026-09-22",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":26},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68,72],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"How is multimorbidity defined in the study?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"Multimorbidity is defined as having cancer plus two or more comorbidities.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What data and population were used?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The retrospective cohort used SEER-Medicare linked data to identify 692,159 individuals over 65 diagnosed with female breast, colorectal, lung, or prostate cancer from 1992–2011.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What did the results show about treatment receipt?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Across cancers, the proportion receiving treatment declined over time and with increasing age, number of comorbidities, and advanced cancer stage. Patients with multimorbidity were less likely to receive cancer treatment.",{"name":73,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What conclusions were drawn about racial disparities and multimorbidity?",{"text":75,"@type":63},"The findings suggest multimorbidity prevalence among older patients with cancer increased and negatively affected cancer treatment. Racial disparities may exist and appear more pronounced among patients without multimorbidity.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":78,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":80,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":82,"site_id":7},350874,1790438794,{"code":4,"msg":85,"data":86},"success",[87,91,95,99,104,109,114,118,123,126,130],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},8,30,"research-report",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":121,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":125},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":129},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":133},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":85,"data":135},{"doc_id":82,"user_id":136,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":137,"doc_module":4,"category_id":115,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":138,"file_id":139,"file_url":140,"file_type":141,"file_size":142,"view_count":26,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":143,"language":144,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":145,"faqs":146,"seo_title":147,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":148,"read_time":149},1099513958762,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1000023916a998db790?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1784791008015729253","OPEN ACCESS  \nCitation: Pham TT, Connor AE, Rositch AF (2026) Multimorbidity and cancer treatment among the older patients in the United States. PLoS One 21(1): e0338721. [https://doi](https://doi). org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338721  \nEditor: Sophie Pilleron, Luxembourg Institute of Health, LUXEMBOURG  \nReceived: June 23, 2025  \nAccepted: November 26, 2025  \nPublished: January 7, 2026  \nCopyright: © 2026 Pham et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.  \nData availability statement: This study was a retrospective cohort of older patients with cancer in the United States in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) -Medicare linkage database. The data could be obtained via SEER-Medicare and subjected to approval from National Cancer Institute; Information Management Services (IMS), Inc.;  \nRESEARCH ARTICLE  \nMultimorbidity and cancer treatment among the older patients in the United States  \nTung Thanh Pham1,2,3*, Avonne E. Connor4,5, Anne F. Rositch4,6  \n1 College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2 Department of Epidemiology, Harvard  \nT. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 3 Research Advancement Consortium in Health (REACH), Hanoi, Vietnam, 4 Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, 5 Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, 6 Health Outcomes and Real World Evidence, Hologic, Inc, Marlborough, Massachusetts, United States of America  \n* [tung.pt@vinuni.edu.vn](tung.pt@vinuni.edu.vn)  \nAbstract  \nIntroduction  \nThe number of individuals who are diagnosed with cancer and other comorbidities continues to increase, and the average number of comorbidities among racial/ethnic minority patients is higher than non-Hispanic (N. H.)-white patients. Therefore, we explored the association between race/ethnicity, comorbidities, and cancer treatment among older Americans diagnosed with the four most common cancer types.  \nMethods  \nIn this retrospective cohort study, SEER-Medicare linked data were used to identify 692,159 individuals over 65 years old diagnosed with female breast, colorectal, lung, or prostate cancer from 1992–2011. Multimorbidity was defined as having cancer plus two or more comorbidities. Modified Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between comorbidities and race/ethnicity on cancer treatment within 6 months of diagnosis.  \nResults  \nFor all cancers, the percentage of patients receiving treatment declined over time and with increasing age, number of comorbidities, and advanced cancer stage. Variability in receipt of treatment by race/ethnicity was observed: 76% for NH-White, 75% for Hispanic, and 68% for NH-Black patients. Concurrently, multimorbidity was increasing over time for all patients. Adjusting for other covariates, patients with multimorbidity were less likely to receive cancer treatment (RR = 0.987–0.947, all p-value\u003C0 .001) . Moreover, NH-Black (RR = 0.955–0.865, all p-value\u003C0 .001) and  \nPLOS One | [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338721](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338721) January 7, 2026 1 / 15  \nand the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program tumor registries. For data access inquiries, please contact: SEERMedicare Information Management Services, Inc. 3901 Calverton Blvd, Suite 200 Calverton, MD 20705 E-mail: SEERMedicare@imsweb.  \n”  \ncom .  \nFunding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.  \nCompeting interests: NO authors have competing interests.  \nHispanic (RR = 0.987–0.951, all p-value\u003C0 .001) patients without multimorbidity were less likely to be treated compared to NH-White patients ","cbCaigym4Yx4ITSI","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigym4Yx4ITSI","pdf",1043880,15,"English","# Introduction\n# Methods\n# Results\n# Conclusions","[{\"question\":\"How is multimorbidity defined in the study?\",\"answer\":\"Multimorbidity is defined as having cancer plus two or more comorbidities.\"},{\"question\":\"What data and population were used?\",\"answer\":\"The retrospective cohort used SEER-Medicare linked data to identify 692,159 individuals over 65 diagnosed with female breast, colorectal, lung, or prostate cancer from 1992–2011.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the results show about treatment receipt?\",\"answer\":\"Across cancers, the proportion receiving treatment declined over time and with increasing age, number of comorbidities, and advanced cancer stage. Patients with multimorbidity were less likely to receive cancer treatment.\"},{\"question\":\"What conclusions were drawn about racial disparities and multimorbidity?\",\"answer\":\"The findings suggest multimorbidity prevalence among older patients with cancer increased and negatively affected cancer treatment. Racial disparities may exist and appear more pronounced among patients without multimorbidity.\"}]","Multimorbidity and cancer treatment among the older patients in the United States - research article | PDF",1790091622,38]