Differences in cancer outcomes persist between population groups in a wide range of measures. These measures include incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, survivorship, quality of life after cancer treatment, screening rates, stage at diagnosis, and burden of cancer or related health conditions. Complex and interrelated factors contribute to the observed differences in cancer outcomes, including access to healthcare, socioeconomic factors, 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. Moreover, advances in genomics and other molecular technologies are improving our understanding of how biological differences among population groups contribute to differences in cancer outcomes and how biological factors interact with other potentially relevant factors, such as diet.
University of Hawai‘i
Lung & Breast
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
GI