researchers in collaboration with the University of Southern California, and University of California, San Francisco, were awarded $700,000 to study the role of structural racism on racial and ethnic inequities in lung cancer risks.
This National Cancer Institute-funded study, led by 撸sir视频 Cancer Center researchers S. Lani Park and Iona Cheng, will examine various measures of structural racism, such as residential segregation, to understand how persistent racial and ethnic inequities in Native 撸sir视频ian, African American, Japanese American and Latino adults contribute to different smoking behaviors and lung cancer risk.
Understanding how inequitable laws and policies contribute to smoking behaviors and lung cancer risk may help to make great strides toward reducing the racial and ethnic disparities of lung cancer.
—S. Lani Park
“Understanding how inequitable laws and policies contribute to smoking behaviors and lung cancer risk may help to make great strides toward reducing the racial and ethnic disparities of lung cancer,” said Park.
Structural racism is a form of racism rooted in laws, policies and social forces that perpetuate racial and ethnic health inequities. There is currently limited research investigating the influence of structural racism on smoking behaviors and lung cancer risk. Conducting this research may help to explain population inequities in disease risks.
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death in both men and women. While it is well-documented that smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, smoking alone does not explain the difference in disease risk across racial and ethnic groups.
The , led by the 撸sir视频 Cancer Center and the University of Southern California, provided the researchers with data that showed, when taking into account the variations in smoking history for the same amount smoked, Native 撸sir视频ian and African American adults were at greater risk of lung cancer compared to White adults. Whereas, Japanese American and Latino adults were found to have a lower risk of developing lung cancer. The factors that explain higher risk in some populations remain largely unknown.
Findings from this study will help researchers understand measures of structural racism that impact smoking and lung cancer risk across diverse racial and ethnic groups. This work may help inform the development of interventions, and social or policy changes to promote smoking cessation and lung cancer prevention.