Overall five-year cancer survival rates for breast and colorectal cancers are lower in rural areas for both Black and white individuals, according to an American Cancer Society (ACS) report published September 24 in Cancer.
The research also found lower cancer survival rates for Black individuals compared to white individuals for these cancers, underscoring "disparities in receipt of care," and highlighting "the need to increase access to cancer care for historically marginalized populations to help mitigate disparities," the society said in a statement.
"Lower survival rates for cancers with the same stage at diagnosis in non-metropolitan areas largely reflect disparities in receipt of quality cancer care due to inequities in social determinants of health, including lack of insurance coverage," said lead author Farhad Islami, MD, senior scientific director of cancer disparity research at the ACS. "This needs to change. Increasing access to cancer care to these historically marginalized populations is critically needed to mitigate disparities."
It's been shown that stage-specific cancer survival rates tend to be lower in Black Americans compared to white Americans, the group noted. But up-to-date information on variations in Black–white differences in cancer survival by type of residence is limited, it wrote. To address the knowledge gap, Islami's team conducted a study that included data from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry. The information was categorized by stage at diagnosis on five-year survival and receipt of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy for all lung, female breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers diagnosed between 2015 to 2021 (stages of cancer at diagnosis included localized, regional, and distant disease.)
The group found lower cancer survival rates overall in individuals living in rural areas, and in particular among Black individuals compared to their white counterparts:
5-year survival rates by race and type of residence, all cancer stages combined | ||
Race and type of cancer | Urban | Rural |
All cancers | ||
| Black | 64.6% | 60.1% |
| White | 70.7% | 64.7% |
Lung cancer | ||
| Black | 30.1% | 21.3% |
| White | 35.6% | 27.8% |
Breast cancer | ||
| Black | 82.3% | 81.2% |
| White | 89.9% | 87.6% |
Prostate cancer | ||
| Black | 88.5% | 87.9% |
| White | 91.4% | 89.3% |
Colorectal cancer | ||
| Black | 58.8% | 56% |
| White | 65.9% | 63.5% |
The study provides further evidence of "how important access to timely, high-quality, affordable health care is to having better health outcomes and reducing cancer disparities," said ACS Cancer Action Network president Lisa Lacasse, in the society's statement.
"Where someone lives shouldn't determine if they live," she said. "We can't afford to have new or existing barriers to accessing cancer prevention, screening, or treatment services."
The complete study can be found here.
