The Impact of Community Context and Cancer Disparities

Dear Colleagues,

Despite significant progress being made in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment in recent decades, as cancer researchers, we all know that disparities in cancer outcomes based on race/ethnicity, income, geography, gender, and sexual identity are likely to widen without increased attention and improved intervention. The aphorism “a person’s zip code often matters more than their genetic code when it comes to their health” has proven true in the cancer disparities research domain and highlights community context as a key factor. A confluence of complex, interrelated, multilevel determinants, including socioeconomic, cultural, social, environmental, and neighborhood-level factors, are known to be drivers of health disparities across the cancer continuum. However, the community context—a major contributor to the unequal cancer burden experienced by racial, ethnic, economic, geographic, and sexual/gender minorities—has been understudied relative to individual-level factors. To advance cancer equity, especially in underserved and underrepresented populations, cancer prevention research demands greater insight into factors such as where we live and work, how connected we are in our community, and how much support we receive. To this end, we are seeking the submission of reports focused on the role of community in cancer disparities, including findings on social integration, social support, discrimination, isolation, engagement, resources and access, safety and violence, and other novel topics. In addition, given the heterogeneity among individuals within minority groups across the spectrum, we highlight the need for disaggregated community-level data, when possible, to develop effective strategies to achieve health equity.

For this Special Issue of Cancers, we welcome original research and review articles that offer insight into the role of community in cancer disparities and mitigation.

Dr. Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy
Dr. Jiajun Luo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• community
• contextual factors
• neighborhood
• social determinants
• networks
• social integration
• social support
• discrimination stressors
• engagement
• residence