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Latino / Hispanic Americans are: �
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17 % less likely to get an early diagnosis
Equally likely to have surgery for lung cancer
30 % more likely not to get any treatment
Equally likely to live for 5 years after diagnosis
American Indians and Alaska Natives are:
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12 % less likely to get an early diagnosis
24 % less likely to have surgery for lung cancer
20 % more likely not to get any treatment
1 % less likely to live for 5 years after diagnosis
What Causes Racial and Ethnic Disparities?
Disparities may arise from social factors that influence a person’ s ability to access healthcare. These include differences among groups in:
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Income Access to health information
Access to doctors who screen for and diagnose lung cancer
Health insurance
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Access to transportation Paid medical leave Participation in clinical trials
Environments where people live and work
What Are Disparities in Early-Stage Lung Cancer?
It’ s possible to cure lung cancers that are caught early, or before they’ ve spread out of the lung, with surgery. More than 60 % of people diagnosed with lung cancer before it spreads survive for at least 5 years. Once lung cancer has spread to nearby areas or more distantly, the chance of survival drops.
A 1999 study tried to measure the disparity between Black and white people in having surgery. It also tried to figure out if this disparity explained differences in survival with early lung cancer.
The study found:
� Black people had surgery more than 12 % less often than white people � �
They also had lower survival
But when researchers looked only at people who had surgery, survival between racial groups was about the same
� The same was true when they looked only at people who didn’ t have surgery
So, differences in survival between the groups were explained in large part by whether they had surgery or not.
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