Abstract 853: Assessment of racial and ethnic disparities in environmental exposure-related cancer burden

Abstract

Abstract The United States Environmental Protection Agency designates superfund sites as regions contaminated with hazardous waste. These sites have previously been associated with adverse health outcomes, including an increased incidence of cancer. Historically, communities with racial and ethnic minorities and people of low socioeconomic status have served as prime locations for these sites, as these communities have lacked the ability to advocate against this land use. Here, we ask whether racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately exposed to these sites or other regions of hazardous waste in our catchment area at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, and in the state of Ohio. Further, we are examining whether areas of high exposure are associated with adverse health outcomes including higher cancer incidence and mortality. We utilized the Environmental Justice Index (EJI) database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess, on a census tract level, the percent of racial and ethnic minorities in a region, defined as all persons except white, non-Hispanic individuals. We also queried hazardous and toxic waste sites including regions with a national priority list site, a toxic release inventory site, treatment, storage, and disposal sites, risk management plan sites, coal mines, and lead mines. We intersected these data and found that census tracts with a higher percentage of minority persons were more likely to be exposed to hazardous and toxic sites. Our current studies are assessing whether this high environmental burden is contributing to disproportionately worse cancer burden for these individuals. We will test this by comparing EJI data with data from the Ohio Cancer Incidence Surveillance System database to assess cancer incidence and mortality in Ohio. This will also provide an avenue for identifying specific exposures that may contribute to different cancer types. Further, we plan to assess if persons with low socioeconomic status or those living with disabilities are disproportionately affected by environmental burden. Overall, understanding environmental burden and health outcomes will facilitate the prioritization of communities at greatest need, contributing to greater health equity. Citation Format: Jessica R. Bobbitt, Fangzhou Liu, Jennifer Cullen, Ruth A. Keri. Assessment of racial and ethnic disparities in environmental exposure-related cancer burden [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 853.