A new Mount Sinai study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on September 10, 2024, has found that people with lung cancer face big differences in getting important tests based on their race and income. This study, led by Emanuela Taioli, MD, Ph.D.
, and her team at the Institute for Translational Epidemiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, shows a serious concern in cancer care. The researchers used data from SEER-Medicare, which reflects the linkage of two large population-based sources of data that provide detailed information about Medicare beneficiaries with cancer, to find out that not everyone has the same chance to get a special test called molecular diagnostics. This test helps doctors decide whether a patient can use new, targeted treatments for lung cancer.
Some groups of people—those from lower-income or minority backgrounds—were less likely to get these tests. "In order to significantly reduce lung cancer mortality, novel effective treatments should be available to all patients who could benefit from such treatments," says Taioli. Dr.
Taioli and her team from Icahn Mount Sinai, including Stephanie Tuminello, Ph.D., MPH; Wiley M.
Turner, BA; Matthew Untalan, MPH; Tara Ivic-Pavlicic, MS; and Raja Flores, MD, Ph.D., observed that without these tests, some patients might not get access to life-saving treatments.
This is a big concern because while new treatments for late-stage lung cancer can be very effective, they are not eq.