When it comes to cancer disparities, community may count. A study published Aug. 21 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed that although Hispanic non-small cell lung cancer patients tend to be diagnosed at later stages than white patients, that disadvantage disappears in South Florida.
The first-of-its-kind study examined disparities in lung cancer staging across all lung cancer patients in the state of Florida and found that while racial and ethnic minorities tend to be diagnosed at later stages than white patients in most of the state, that disadvantage disappears for most Hispanic populations living in South Florida. Cancers diagnosed at later stages are generally harder to treat and result in worse outcomes than those caught at early stages. This lack of disparity in South Florida could be due to the region's high proportion of Hispanic communities, including the fact that more health care providers there are Hispanic, the researchers said.
This representation in the workforce could improve health care access and patient trust as compared to regions with fewer Hispanic or Spanish-speaking providers. "We have to start thinking about the context in which minorities live," said Paulo Pinheiro, Ph.D.
, who led the study. "When you have a diverse population and a more diverse workforce that might be more in tune with the population in the sense of speaking the same language, having the same cultural context , then maybe we can have better outcomes." Pinheiro is .