Health Disparities in Cancer

Cancer remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, yet its burden is not shared equally across populations. Persistent disparities in cancer incidence, progression, treatment response, and survival among racial, ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups represent a major public health challenge. While differences in healthcare access, environmental exposures, lifestyle factors, social and cultural barriers, and socioeconomic conditions contribute significantly to these inequities, growing evidence suggests that biological mechanisms also play a critical role. Notably, disparities in cancer outcomes often persist even after accounting for socioeconomic and healthcare-related factors, highlighting the need to better understand the complex interplay between biological and non-biological determinants of cancer health disparities. This book aims to shed light on the existing health disparities in human malignancies of various anatomic origins across diverse populations by compiling information on the biological and socio-epigenomic bases of cancer health disparities. Chapters are written by teams of experts from different fields, whose insights help develop roadmaps for collective action to reduce disparities in cancer health outcomes. Comprehensive and interdisciplinary in scope, this book serves as an essential resource for basic, translational, and clinical researchers, physicians, public health and social scientists, trainees, funding organizations, policymakers, and all stakeholders committed to advancing cancer health equity.