Journal Article

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Laryngeal Cancer Care

Cox, Steven R., Daniel, Carolann L.

2022

Overview

There is a long history of racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare and they continue to persist in contemporary society. These disparities have the potential to negatively affect morbidity and mortality in racial and ethnic minorities diagnosed with laryngeal cancer. Diagnosis, medical treatment, and rehabilitation for laryngeal cancer have improved considerably, leading to improvements in overall survival rates and physical, social, and psychological functioning. Yet members of minority and underrepresented groups are at an increased risk for experiencing reduced access to quality care and delays between diagnosis and treatment, and as a result have lower survival rates. Increasing health providers’ awareness of racial and ethnic disparities in laryngeal cancer is necessary to facilitate changes in patient and provider education, clinical practice, and health policies. The purpose of this review is to summarize current literature on disparities in laryngeal cancer diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation among Black and Hispanic patients. We present recent data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database to examine trends in laryngeal cancer and patient, provider, and health systems factors that may perpetuate these disparities. In addition, we offer interventions to address racism and other racial and ethnic biases in laryngeal cancer care and describe research and legislative actions that are needed to reduce disparities in this area.

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Cancer / Cancer therapies / Clinical medicine / Cultural differences / Diagnosis / Epidemiology / Ethnic differences / Ethnic groups / Ethnicity / Head & neck cancer / Health care access / Health disparities / Health education / Health policy / Health services / Health Services Accessibility / Healthcare Disparities / Hispanic Americans / Hospitals / Humans / Laryngeal cancer / Laryngeal Neoplasms - therapy / Larynx / Lymphatic system / Marginalized groups / Medical diagnosis / Medical screening / Medical treatment / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental health / Minority & ethnic groups / Minority groups / Modern society / Morbidity / Mortality / Patients / Physicians / Primary care / Psychological functioning / Quality of care / Quality of Life Research / Racial bias / Racial differences / Racial Groups / Racial inequality / Racism / Rehabilitation / Rural areas / Smoking / Social Inequality / Social Structure / Socioeconomic factors / Suicides & suicide attempts / Surveillance / Survival / Tumors / Underserved populations / Urban areas