Conference Tackles Rising Disparities in Cancer Rates Among Latinos
Mays Cancer Center Annual Report
Perhaps one silver lining surrounding the dark clouds of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it has brought into view the sheer magnitude of health disparities in America.
Latinos were three times as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than non-Hispanic whites, and twice as likely to die from the virus. This is largely because of systemic and historic health inequities — from a lack of health care access to unstable housing and high rates of poverty and food insecurity — that worsen the cancer and chronic disease health disparities that Latinos already suffer.
The pandemic disparities are no surprise to those who attended UT Health San Antonio’s “Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos” conference in February 2020, just before the mass pandemic shutdowns in March.
The biennial conference, which launched in 2018, is co-hosted by the Institute for Health Promotion Research and Mays Cancer Center and attracted some 300 researchers, oncologists, physicians, students, and community policy makers from 20 different states to face the challenge of a predicted 142 percent rise in cancer rates in Latinos in the next decade.
“I’ve spent a lot of time trying to better understand how we can improve the health of our Latino population in South Texas,” says Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, associate director for community outreach and engagement for the Mays Cancer Center. “It gives me great pride to know we have the researchers, clinicians, and administrators here willing to pursue, not only the science of cancer in Latinos, but the need to change systems, policies, and environments to improve the health of our community.”
Latinos make up about 60 percent of the population in South Texas and more than 18 percent in the U.S., yet the largest minority remains greatly underrepresented in cancer genomic databases and in clinical trials. Further, they are often lumped into one category that fails to capture the variations (both biological and cultural) that clearly exist in Latino subgroups. Although cancer is the leading cause of death in Latinos, no other cancer centers are focused specifically on this population.
“We started looking closer at cancers that were impacting our Latino population and found, that while we still had the prevalent cancers, like breast cancer, we knew little about the molecular nature of breast cancer in this population,” Dr. Ramirez says.
While Latino women have slightly lower rates of breast cancer than non-Hispanic whites, they often have more aggressive forms, at younger ages, and are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage than whites. The conference takes a multidisciplinary approach to addressing such inequities. “For example, right now in our young population between 2 and 19, about 30 percent are already overweight or obese, and we know this will impact their quality of life over time.”
Tackling cancer in Latinos from the lab to the community:
- Utilize the Mays Cancer Center Liver Transplant Center to research the biological contributors of liver cancer which has notably higher rates in South Texas.
- Lead new research and prevention strategies to ensure young women are getting the HPV vaccine, known to prevent high rates of cervical cancer in Latinos.
- Work with Susan G. Komen Foundation to develop easy-to-use automated aids to help Latino women with cancer keep up with their medications and therapy.
- Disseminate timely and culturally sensitive health information and advocacy action opportunities to the Latino community through SaludAmerica!, UT Health’s social media network, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- Encourage master’s level Latino students to pursue doctoral degrees through the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute to conduct a summer institute and other activities to develop more Latino researchers and clinicians in the area of Latino cancer.
Health inequities don’t happen overnight and long-term solutions will take time. Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, MPH, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, was the keynote speaker at the 2020 Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos conference. For the past 40 years, U.S. life expectancy has trended downward even though about 40 percent more is spent on health care than other wealthy nations. The imbalance, Dr. Galea argues, is a focus on “health care” rather than “health.”
The determinants of health for diverse populations include access to care, genetics, socioeconomic and physical environment, and healthy behaviors. It’s easy to see the disconnect when one considers the U.S. spent $3.8 trillion on health care in 2019, the lion’s share (about 61 percent) on hospital care, physician and clinical services, and prescription drugs, according to Project HOPE.
Dr. Ramirez said the Latino cancer experts who attended the “Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos” conference are working to address these very health determinants through prevention-focused research and system change.
The next conference is set for February 2022. Learn more at www.latinocancer.com.
“We want to continue to grow this conference into something the Mays Cancer Center will be noted for,” says Dr. Ramirez. “We may involve more co-sponsors, but we want to take the lead in this work because of our own demographics and the cultural sensitivity we have with our researchers here.”
As public health lessons from the pandemic may fade, she adds: “We are encouraging our communities to really take on health disparities as an issue, and not let them go away, but keep them front and center and address the underlying causes even after the storm has passed.”
