Cancer Health Disparities in US Racial/Ethnic Minorities

ZAVALA, VALENTINA; BRACCI, PAIGE; CARETHERS, JOHN; CARVAJAL-CARMONA, LUIS; COGGINS, NICOLE; CRUZ-CORREA, MARCIA; DAVIS, MELISSA; DE SMITH, ADAM; DUTIL, JULIE; FIGUEIREDO, JANE; FOX, RENA; GRAVES, KRISTI; LIN GÓMEZ, SCARLETT; LLERA, ANDREA S.; NEUHAUSEN, SUSAN; NEWMAN, LISA; NGUYEN, TUNG; PALMER, JULIE; PALMER, NYNIKKA ; PÉREZ-STABLE, ELISEO; SORBARIKOR PIAWAH; RODRIGUEZ, ERIK; SANABRIA-SALAS, MARIA C; SCHMIT, STEPHANIE; SERRANO-GOMEZ, SILVIA; STERN, MARIANA; WEITZEL, JEFFREY; YANG, JUN; ZABALETA, JOVANNY; ZIV, ELAD; FEJERMAN, LAURA

BRITISH JOURNAL OF CANCER

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

Año: 2020

0007-0920

There are well-established disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes by race/ethnicity that result from the interplay betweenstructural, socioeconomic, socio-environmental, behavioural and biological factors. However, large research studies designed toinvestigate factors contributing to cancer aetiology and progression have mainly focused on populations of European origin. Thelimitations in clinicopathological and genetic data, as well as the reduced availability of biospecimens from diverse populations,contribute to the knowledge gap and have the potential to widen cancer health disparities. In this review, we summarise reporteddisparities and associated factors in the United States of America (USA) for the most common cancers (breast, prostate, lung andcolon), and for a subset of other cancers that highlight the complexity of disparities (gastric, liver, pancreas and leukaemia). Wefocus on populations commonly identified and referred to as racial/ethnic minorities in the USA?African Americans/Blacks,American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians/other Pacific Islanders and Hispanics/Latinos. We conclude that eventhough substantial progress has been made in understanding the factors underlying cancer health disparities, marked inequitiespersist. Additional efforts are needed to include participants from diverse populations in the research of cancer aetiology, biologyand treatment. Furthermore, to eliminate cancer health disparities, it will be necessary to facilitate access to, and utilisation of,health services to all individuals, and to address structural inequities, including racism, that disproportionally affect racial/ethnicminorities in the USA.