Cancer Health Disparities

NCI defines cancer health disparities as adverse differences between certain population groups in a wide range of cancer measures including incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, survivorship and quality of life after cancer treatment, burden of cancer or related health conditions, screening rates, and stage at diagnosis.

Complex and interrelated factors contribute to the observed cancer disparities, including access to healthcare, differences in diet and lifestyle, ancestry-related risk factors, persistent co-morbidities, and chronic stress exposure. An increasing number of studies demonstrate that even when socioeconomic and access to care factors are accounted for, incidence and mortality gaps persist between populations for some cancer types, suggesting a role for biological contributors. Advances in genomics and other molecular technologies are improving our understanding of how biological differences among population groups contribute to health disparities and how biological factors interact with other potentially relevant factors, such as diet.

Cancer Health Disparities

Baylor College of Medicine

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

University of Hawai‘i

University of Washington

Virginia Commonwealth University

Wayne State University