Lazarex Cancer Foundation Sponsors Report to Promote Equity in Cancer Care

DANVILLE, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, September 24, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new report sponsored by Lazarex Cancer Foundation calls attention to the serious disparities in cancer rates and outcomes. The “State of Cancer in Philadelphia” was issued this week as a collaboration between Drexel University’s Urban Health Collaborative, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and the Fox Chase Cancer Center. Lazarex is a proud supporter of the research and the effort to not only examine how race, ethnicity and socioeconomic factors affect cancer patients— but to be a part of the solution to promote health equity in communities like Philadelphia and beyond.

“In order to provide a solution, we must understand the problem,” says Dana Dornsife, Founder and CEO of Lazarex, “The data gathered from this study allows us to work better and harder at improving minority participation in clinical trials.”

The analysis offers key information to public health agencies, policymakers, and care providers to inform how best to allocate resources to promote health equity in Philadelphia. It is also the first report of its kind to give a comprehensive interactive overview of cancer incidence, screening and mortality data in Philadelphia by race/ethnicity and sex for different cancer types.

The team looked at the number of cancer cases and deaths from 2000-2016 from the Pennsylvania Department of Health Cancer Registry and the Vital Statistics Registry from the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Bureau of Health Statistics & Registries. For statistics on cancer screening and risk factors, such as race and education level, the report draws from nine surveys conducted between 2000 and 2018 by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Health Survey from the Public Health Management Corporation.

The report gives a broad and detailed look at how cancer and its risk factors have changed over the past 10 years and how they vary by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors.

Although incidence and mortality rates for many cancers have been decreasing over the past few years, liver cancer incidence and mortality have increased in men and women. Breast cancer incidence and lung cancer incidence have increased in black women.

Additionally, racial and socioeconomic disparities persist. Cancer mortality is higher for African Americans than for other racial/ethnic groups and is also higher in neighborhoods with lower levels of education compared to neighborhoods with higher levels of education.

Those surveyed with lower education have significantly higher levels of cancer risk factors than those with more education. Although some cancer risk factors have improved in recent years, obesity, diabetes and binge drinking rates have increased and fruit and vegetable consumption remain at very low rates. Philadelphia residents, including Black men and women, reported high rates of screening for most common cancers.

The unique mission of Lazarex Cancer Foundation is to improve the outcome of cancer care among advanced stage cancer patients and the medically underserved by providing assistance with costs for FDA clinical trial participation and offering programs for increased community outreach and engagement. Through its partnership with Drexel, Lazarex is able to advance its mission by supporting world class research and analysis that will help increase access and equity for cancer patients at time when COVID-19 has exposed the historically vast health and economic disparities across the United States.

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For more information about Lazarex Cancer Foundation, please visit www.lazarex.org.
For more information about the Urban Health Collaborative please visit https://drexel.edu/uhc/.
Read the full “State of Cancer in Philadelphia” report here.

Laura Evans Manatos
Laura Evans Media
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