ABSTRACT
Blacks have the highest incidence and mortality from most cancers. The reasons for these disparities remain unclear. Blacks are exposed to adverse social determinants because of historic and contemporary racist polices; however, how these determinants affect the disparities that Blacks experience is understudied. As a result of discriminatory community policies, like redlining, Blacks have higher exposure to air pollution and neighborhood deprivation. Studies investigating how these factors affect tumor biology are emerging. We highlight the literature that connects racism-related community exposure to the tumor biology in breast, lung, prostate, and colorectal cancer. Further investigations that clarify the link between adverse social determinants that result from systemic racism and aggressive tumor biology are required if health equity is to be achieved. Without recognition that racism is a public health risk with carcinogenic impact, health care delivery and cancer care will never achieve excellence. In response, health systems ought to establish corrective actions to improve Black population health and bring medical justice to marginalized racialized groups.
Subject(s)
Black or African American , Racism , Biology , Humans , Male , Social Justice , Systemic RacismABSTRACT
Effective clinical trials are meant to provide the safest and fastest way to find new treatments to improve health. The FDA affirms that because people may respond differently to treatments, it is imperative to test drugs and medical products in a variety of populations (https://www.fda.gov/patients/clinical-trials-what-patients-need-know/basics-about-clinical-trials). Unfortunately, clinical trial enrollment in the US remains largely homogeneous, with the majority of participants being non-Hispanic white men. Despite efforts to increase diversity in recruitment for clinical trials, enrollment of racial/ethnic minorities in this nation has decreased over the past two decades.1.
