WASHINGTON, July 1 (Prensa Latina) Lack of access to health care is one of the factors behind the increase in some cancers among the Latino population in the United States today, a study has warned.
According to a study published in the American Medical Association’s monthly JAMA Oncology, such health care inequalities are taking the lives of Latinos.
For the study’s lead author, Sophia Kamran, despite “major advances in cancer detection, education, and treatment, there are populations in the United States who have not equally benefited from these improvements.”
Researchers at the Massachusetts General Cancer Center say rising death rates from certain types of malignant abscesses are a cause for concern.
While the survey found that overall cancer mortality in this segment decreased by 1.3 percent per year between 1999 and 2020, this was not the case when analyzing certain types of cancer, such as liver or cervical cancer, which showed an increasing trend. The scientists found that the death rate from liver tumors in Hispanic men was “increasing significantly”: by one percent per year.
While the women of the same population group saw an increase in deaths from cancers of the liver (1 percent), pancreas (0.2) and uterus (1.6) over a similar period.
In the United States, the reality is that the majority of Latinos do not have health insurance coverage, affecting the extent of testing for the disease and other preventative measures for patients.
Forty-eight percent of Latinos who participated in a recent Pew Research Center survey said poor access to quality health care was a problem.
They cited language and cultural differences, among other difficulties.
Therefore, “we need to think a little differently and target specific cancer research, education and treatments to this population group,” emphasized Kamran.
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