Abstract SY30-01: Translational issues in lung cancer disparities: A vision for cancer equity

Lung cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of racial disparities in cancer morbidity and mortality among adults in the United States. Over the past 20 years, efforts to address disparities in lung cancer outcomes have focused on describing racial/ethnic differences in smoking behaviors and cessation outcomes. Other research has compared racial/ethnic groups in psychosocial and geographic risk factors for smoking and barriers to cessation; self-reported perceptions of stress and neighborhood deprivation have emerged as critical determinants of persistent tobacco use and predictors of relapse in disparity populations. Considerable investments have also been made to develop novel approaches for detecting lung cancer early and therapeutic strategies for treating this disease; lung cancer screening with LDCT now has a Grade B recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force and screening guidelines have been revised recently to be better aligned with the smoking behaviors and disease risk profiles among smokers from disparity populations. The demonstrated ability of LDCT to reduce lung cancer mortality is a significant clinical and public health advancement because it is the only evidence-based approach for detecting lung cancer at an early stage when treatment is most likely to be curative. However, several studies have demonstrated that patients from disparity populations have reduced uptake of cancer control strategies such as LDCT because of unmet social needs and risk factors; thus, revising lung cancer screening guidelines to be more inclusive may be necessary but not sufficient for improving access among disparity populations. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the goals and objectives for translational studies that are now being conducted to enhance equity in lung cancer outcomes among disparity populations and to identify priorities for future research in lung cancer equity. Citation Format: Chanita Hughes-Halbert. Translational issues in lung cancer disparities: A vision for cancer equity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr SY30-01.