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Review
. 2024 Feb;38(1):1-12.
doi: 10.1016/j.hoc.2023.08.001. Epub 2023 Sep 4.

Inequity in Cancer and Cancer Care Delivery in the United States

Affiliations
Review

Inequity in Cancer and Cancer Care Delivery in the United States

Andrew P Loehrer et al. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Inequity exists along the continuum of cancer and cancer care delivery in the United States. Marginalized populations have later stage cancer at diagnosis, decreased likelihood of receiving cancer-directed care, and worse outcomes from treatment. These inequities are driven by historical, structural, systemic, interpersonal, and internalized factors that influence cancer across the pathologic and clinical continuum. To ensure equity in cancer care, interventions are needed at the level of policy, care delivery, interpersonal communication, diversity within the clinical workforce, and clinical trial accessibility and design.

Keywords: Cancer care delivery; Disparities; Political determinants of health; Social determinants of health; United States equity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures

APL has no financial conflicts of interest to report. Time spent on this work was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NCI K08CA263546). SRG and KMW has no financial conflicts or disclosures to report.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Causal pathways for clinical outcomes and health equity in cancer care
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Political and social determinants of health framework.

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