Community Outreach Core TUFCCC: Yin Tan, MD, MPH (Co-Leader) HC: Ming-Chin Yeh, PhD (Co-Leader) Community-Based Org: Marilyn A. Fraser, MD (Co-Leader) Statistics in cancer health disparities are staggering in underserved minority populations. African American (AA) face the highest incidence and death rates of various cancer compared with Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW); African Americans have the highest incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) with a 20% higher incidence and a 13% higher mortality rate compared with NHW. Moreover, the prevalence of liver cancer-related HCV is twice as high in African Americans as in NHW population (3.0% vs 1.5%, respectively). Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) have the highest incidence rates of liver cancer among all U.S. racial/ethnic groups, largely due to chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) infection as a major identified risk factor. Prevalence rates of chronic hepatitis B range from 8% to 16% in APAs vs 1% in NHW. APAs are 8-13 times more likely to develop liver cancer with 60% higher death rate than NHW. Although the national trend of colorectal cancer is declining, prevalence of colorectal cancer among APAs has steadily increased. Hispanic Americans (HAs) also experience substantial cancer disparities. From 2003 to 2011, Hispanic Americans had the highest increase in liver cancer incidence (+35.8%), which has doubled compared to NHWs (19.3 vs. 9.3 in men, 7.2 vs. 3.2 in women per 100,000 population). In addition, CRC is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among Hispanic Americans. Unique social and structural determinants, such as lack of health insurance coverage, less familiarity with U.S. health system, low socioeconomic status, or cultural and access barriers, often contribute to the observed disparities among our targeted disparity populations. The proposed TUFCCC/HC Cancer Outreach Core (COC) is an integral part of the TUFCCC/HC Regional Comprehensive Cancer Health Disparity Partnership. The overall goal of Community Outreach Core is twofold: 1) strengthen community engagement in outreach research and cancer control through effective community cancer education initiatives and outreach activities to reduce cancer disparities among underserved African Americans, Asian Pacific Americans and Hispanic populations in PA, NJ, NYC region, and 2) provide a robust and sustainable community-based participatory research infrastructure for the TUFCCC/HC Partnership. Building on successful collaboration between TUFCCC and HC during the Planning Phase and extensive collective experiences in working with underserved communities, the COC will achieve the proposed goals through three major outreach strategies, including strengthening community engagement in outreach research and cancer control, supporting and integrating community CBPR research infrastructure with research projects/cores of the U54 Partnership, and enhancing community outreach effort impact at individual, organization and community levels.
Community Outreach Core African American face the highest incidence and death rates of various cancer compared with Non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs); Asian Pacific Americans have the highest incidence rates of liver cancer among all racial/ethnic groups in the US, largely due to chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection as a major identified risk factor; and Hispanic Americans have had the highest increase in liver cancer incidence since 2003. Despite substantial evidence indicated that early detection of cancer is effective in reducing cancer disparities, there is an overwhelming underutilization of screening practice in underserved minority populations. The overall goal of the Community Outreach Core is to: 1) strengthen community engagement in cancer outreach research through effective community cancer education initiatives and outreach activities to reduce cancer disparities among underserved African Americans, Asian Pacific Americans and Hispanic populations in PA, NJ, NYC region, and 2) provide a robust and sustainable community-based participatory research infrastructure for the TUFCCC/HC Partnership.
