Feature Channels: Health Disparities

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To highlight the importance of lifesaving cancer research, National Cancer Research Month, led by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), is recognized during May. Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey together with RWJBarnabas Health, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, has curated a selection of ongoing research focusing on cancer disparities which features members from the Cancer Health Equity Center of Excellence.

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The Imaging and Behavioral Neuroscience facility will be built on the first floor of the Interdisciplinary Research Building as part of a $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

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It’s been 50 years since the Tuskegee Study was disclosed to the American public. In May, a new riveting account of the Study, when government doctors intentionally withheld effective therapy for syphilis for 40 years in 400 African American men, will be published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The article explains the deeper everlasting lessons of the study.

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CAR-T therapy, a form of immunotherapy that revs up T-cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells, has revolutionized the treatment of blood cancers, including certain leukemias, lymphomas, and most recently, multiple myeloma. However, Black and Hispanic people were largely absent from the major clinical trials that led to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of CAR-T cell therapies.

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Two new large studies led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) show an increase in the use of proton beam therapy (PBT) for patients with cancer in the United States during the past decade.

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UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center has launched the Center for Advancing Cancer Health Equity. The new center will work to improve health outcomes in underserved populations and help shape cancer-related policy decisions at the county, state, and national levels.

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Three of four blood tests used to identify people in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease perform differently in Black individuals compared to white individuals, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Such differences may put Black patients at risk of misdiagnosis.

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Racism facing Asian Americans is compounding existing cancer inequities. They are the first U.S. population group to experience cancer as the leading cause of death. A commentary in the Journal of the American Cancer Institute outlines the factors contributing to this.

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In a trio of studies analyzing trends in cardiology research funding, clinical trials and leadership, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say some progress has been made in the gender gap that has long favored men, but inequalities persist and are likely linked to ongoing disparities in outcomes for women with heart disease.

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New research from West Virginia University suggests that transgender and gender diverse individuals in rural areas face greater challenges receiving basic healthcare needs than their counterparts. Up to 61% of participants said they had to travel out of state for gender-related care, while over one-third reported they avoid seeking healthcare altogether for fear of discrimination.

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A "bundled care" Medicare program to improve care for patients undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery has led to reductions in some outcome disparities for Black compared with White patients, suggests a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio in partnership with Wolters Kluwer.

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The improvements in care for older adults from the Accountable Care Organization movement haven’t reached all older Americans equally. ACOs that include a higher percentage of patients who are Black, Hispanic, Native American or Asian have lagged behind those with higher percentage of white patients in providing preventive care and keeping patients out of the hospital. Now, a new study shows that some of this inequity stems from how an ACO’s patients get their primary care.

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Tufts University has launched a Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice that will focus on protecting Black women through the birthing experience by advocating for equitable quality care.

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Reproductive rights, abortion laws, vaccine trials, and misinformation about whether COVID afffects fertility—these are some of the hot topics in the news that also relate to Natali Valdez’s research.

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University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute of Human Virology contributes to Global Virus Network studies suggesting that the oral polio vaccine can protect people in developing nations that do not yet have access to COVID vaccines

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Findings from Study Led by Susan G. Komen Scholars Published in JAMA Oncology

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Health IT expert Ritu Agarwal at the University of Maryland describes three paths for medical students and physician-scientists toward health equity in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, geographic location and income.

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There are still a lot of difficult questions to resolve about reimbursement and allowances for delivering services across state lines, but this is an opportunity—provided we recognize and address digital disparities—to create telemedicine that is effective, efficient, and equitable.

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New research from the University of Georgia suggests that highlighting coronavirus racial disparities could reduce white Americans’ fear of the disease and empathy toward Black and other minority groups. More awareness of those disparities can also make them less supportive of safety precautions such as mask wearing and social distancing.

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Black patients presenting at Emergency Departments (EDs) across the country with psychiatric complaints are 63 percent more likely to be chemically sedated than their white counterparts. But researchers also found that, at hospitals that serve a majority of Black patients, white patients were more likely to be chemically sedated for psychiatric complaints when compared to hospitals that predominantly serve white patients.

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Black people with diabetes were more likely to develop cases of a life-threatening complication called diabetic ketoacidosis during the pandemic, even in people without COVID-19, according to a new study from the TID Exchange published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

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African-American adult patients are more likely than white patients to receive substandard gastrointestinal cancer surgery, according a large study led by researchers at Yale Cancer Center. The findings are reported today in the journal JAMA Network Open.

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Addressing disparities in cancer care, including access to and participation in clinical trials, has long been a priority for Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey together with RWJBarnabas Health. Sanjay Goel, MD, MS, director of the Phase I/Investigational Therapeutics Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute shares more.

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Cedars-Sinai Cancer experts will present their latest advances in treatments and research at the American Association for Clinical Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2022 in New Orleans, April 8-13. They will share their innovations to improve the quality of patient care.

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The high rate of diabetes and high blood pressure combined in Puerto Rican people may be linked to structural changes in the brain, according to a study published in the March 30, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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As syphilis cases continue to rise across the United States, a new analysis from researchers at the Coalition for Applied Modeling for Prevention (CAMP) offers further insight into racial and ethnic disparities in syphilis rates among heterosexually active women, featuring a new approach to analyzing disease impact.

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Mercy Health Services (MHS) in Baltimore, MD, has unveiled the first phase completion of The Maternal Health and Preventive Care Center, Dr. David N. Maine, MHS President and CEO has announced.

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Key presentations focused on genomic sequencing, standard of care approaches for cervical cancer, disparities in oncofertility and new mutations for targeted therapy

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Mayo Clinic researchers studied the differences in genomic data quality among racial groups in one of the largest and most widely used cancer research datasets, The Cancer Genome Atlas.

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The Neighborhood Healers Project, a new pilot project led by University of Kentucky researchers, aims to reduce this equity gap by addressing the stigma and helping Black Lexingtonians access the mental health services they need.

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Different activity in two molecular networks could help explain why triple negative breast cancers tend to be more aggressive in African American (AA) women compared with white American (WA) women, a new study led by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers suggests.

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A new study, completed by researchers at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, found people living in socially-deprived areas of the United States are more likely to die prematurely from cardiovascular complications.

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The 147th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association (taking place in-person October 22–25, 2022 in Chicago) will explore new frontiers in neurology, including climate change and the brain, lab-grown brain structures for studying disease, and addressing disparities in neurologic care.

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Don't miss these articles in our Staff Picks channel

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Rush University and Esperanza Health Centers are working together to increase the number of primary care doctors who are well-prepared to serve in areas of greatest need.

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Black and Hispanic people with acute myeloid leukemia in greater Chicago were more likely to die from the disease than their non-Hispanic white counterparts, with a 59% and 25% greater risk, respectively, according to a new study led by University of Illinois Chicago researchers.  

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People who live in communities with higher levels of racial prejudice have worse health outcomes, including more heart disease and mental health problems and higher overall mortality rates, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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We know that colorectal cancer screening and early detection and prevention can save lives. Anita Kinney, PhD, shares what resources are available for colorectal cancer screening and how to learn more about them.

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Significant disparities persist among some racial and ethnic groups in regards to screening for colorectal cancer. Rutgers Cancer Institute researcher Denalee O'Malley, PhD, focuses her research on this topic. She shares more.

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Systemic racism is a well-established public health issue. But in order to understand state-by-state differences, Tufts public health researcher Michael Siegel needed a way to quantify structural racism at the state level.