{"id":2011,"date":"2021-07-20T14:00:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/cancer-center\/?p=2011"},"modified":"2021-07-22T18:26:38","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T18:26:38","slug":"conference-tackles-rising-disparities-in-cancer-rates-among-latinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/cancer-center\/2021\/07\/20\/conference-tackles-rising-disparities-in-cancer-rates-among-latinos\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference Tackles Rising Disparities in Cancer Rates Among Latinos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Robert Croyle, PhD; Amelie Ramirez, DrPH, and Ruben Mesa, MD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 from a lack of health care access to unstable housing and high rates of poverty and food insecurity \u2014 that worsen the cancer and chronic disease health disparities that Latinos already suffer.<\/p>\n

The pandemic disparities are no surprise to those who attended UT Health San Antonio\u2019s \u201cAdvancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos\u201d conference in February 2020, just before the mass pandemic shutdowns in March.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Barbara Segarra, MT, DHSc, participates in a podcast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent a lot of time trying to better understand how we can improve the health of our Latino population in South Texas,\u201d says Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, associate director for community outreach and engagement for the Mays Cancer Center. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Dr. Ramirez says.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Luis Carvajal-Carmona, PhD; Amelie Ramirez, DrPH; Constanza Camargo, PhD, and Edgar Munoz, MS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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. \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tackling cancer in Latinos from the lab to the community:<\/strong><\/p>\n