American Cancer Society Targets Research Dollars for Poor & Underserved Populations

American Cancer Society
Thursday, 29 June 2000

Recognizing that disparities exist in the burden of cancer between the socioeconomically disadvantaged and more privileged Americans, the American Cancer Society, the nation's leading voluntary health organization, has targeted the poor and underserved as populations in need of increased research funding.

Specifically, the Society's nationwide research program has requested proposals from researchers investigating specific issues related to these populations with the hope of eventually finding solutions to help these various groups gain access to and achieve the highest level of health care possible.

"Funding research in the areas related to the needs of the poor and underserved is vitally important to the Society's mission," says John Stevens, M.D., vice president for extramural grants and the lead staff researcher for the ACS. "So in addition to the regular research proposals affecting these populations, the ACS has issued a special call to investigators for research applications in this area."

While one in three Americans will have personally experienced cancer during their lifetime, the nation's poor and underserved people are more statistically at risk of cancer than they need to be, says Dr. Stevens. "People who are poor often lack health insurance and access to high-quality care, often lack education or may not know English well enough to ask questions or read prevention information. In addition, certain populations may even be isolated geographically and culturally from majority health care opportunities. As a result, these groups often develop certain cancers more frequently and die at higher rates than other Americans.

The ACS's request for targeted grant applications for studies addressing cancer issues among the poor and underserved has already resulted in nine awards totaling nearly $5 million. These grants include:

Documenting Tobacco Industry Targeting of Low-SES Youth

Elizabeth M. Barbeau, Sc.D., of the Tufts University Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, will be documenting strategies employed by the tobacco industry to promote tobacco use among young adults of low socioeconomic status (SES).

Poor and underserved young adults are "still at increased risk of tobacco use, despite significant overall progress in tobacco use prevention," she says. Dr. Barbeau will compare tobacco industry strategies with what state-based tobacco control program are doing to target this group of young adults with anti-smoking messages. State efforts at counter-marketing might be improved with increased knowledge of tobacco industry tactics, she says.

Racial Differences in Breast Density?

A strong risk factor for breast cancer is the density of the breast; however, scant information exists on possible racial differences in breast density. ACS grantee Beth Jones, Ph.D., of Yale University's School of Medicine, is conducting a study in a group of 500 African-American women and 500 white women to determine if race influences differences in breast density. In addition, Dr. Jones will try to determine if predictors of breast density differ by race and how the prevalence of predictors within each racial group affects the potential racial difference in breast density. Dr. Jones's research could have important implications for screening guidelines if she finds a difference in breast density along racial lines, Dr. Stevens says.

'Gatherings of Wellness' for Native American Women

With low incidence rates of most cancers yet the poorest survival rates from cancer of any other ethnic group in the United States, early detection becomes the most important tool for reducing cancer deaths in the American Indian population, says Linda K. Larkey, Ph.D., of the Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona. Native American women in the Phoenix area will participate in six-month interventions intended to improve screening rates for breast, colon and cervical cancer.

In the first project, Community Health Advisors -- women selected and trained from the target community -- will educate friends and neighbors about the importance of cancer screening. The peer advisors will participate in the second project, "but in a novel way that is expected to maximize effectiveness and enhance the maintenance of changed behaviors…" Dr. Larkey says. In the second intervention, peer advisors will bring women together to participate in health forums called "Gatherings of Wellness" that will focus on the same set of prevention and screening topics used in the first project, but in a culturally sensitive way.

Improving Childhood Diet and Activity

Economically disadvantaged children will be taught important, individually tailored messages about good nutrition and the importance of physical activity while they participate in an intergenerational tutoring program that also promotes literacy and self esteem.

For more information, or to contact American Cancer Society, see their website at: www.cancer.org