Tag Archive for: rural

23 Rural States are Served by NCORP

/in , , ,

Clinical Trials are available to people across the U.S. through the NCI Clinical Oncology Research Program (NCORP), including 23 states with large rural populations.Clinical Trials are available to people across the U.S. through the NCI Clinical Oncology Research Program (NCORP), including 23 states with large rural populations  SCOR serves three states with rural populations between 30% & 51% — North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.  SCOR also serves Florida, Georgia and Virginia, which have rural populations between 25% & 29%.

These statistics are important to understand because, as studies have shown, rural patients do not live as long as their urban counterparts.  However, a study done by the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), the international cancer clinical trials network funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), indicates that this difference in survival is not due to patients – but to the care they receive.

NCORP aims to reduce these disparities by bringing the same treatments and standards of care that are the norm in large, urban and academic hospitals to smaller, rural community hospitals, health centers and medical practices.  >>read more

Clinical Trials Balance Out Urban, Rural Cancer Survival Rates

/in , , ,

Although there has been substantial progress in cancer treatment, screening, diagnosis, and prevention over the past several decades, addressing cancer health disparities—such as higher cancer death rates, less frequent use of proven screening tests, and higher rates of advanced cancer diagnoses—in certain populations is an area in which progress has not kept pace.

These disparities are frequently seen in people from low-socioeconomic groups, certain racial/ethnic populations, and those who live in geographically isolated areas. Many of the same population groups that experience cancer health disparities are also significantly underrepresented in cancer clinical trials.

There has been some recent evidence of progress against cancer health disparities, including reductions in lung and prostate cancer deaths among African American men over the past decade. But researchers and public health officials agree that progress has come too slowly, and the cost of disparities—in terms of premature deaths, lost productivity, and the impact on communities—remains substantial and must be addressed.

Cancer disparities and equity research is needed to understand why some groups of people may be more or less likely to develop cancer, experience cancer-related health problems, or die from cancer than other groups of people.

The following article outlines an example of a 2018 study aimed at understanding disparities in survival rates of urban and rural patients.  >>read more

(from www.cancer.gov, www.drugs.com)