Abstract A017: Cancer information seeking across four categories of an urban/rural continuum: The intersection of place, race, and health information in rural America

Abstract

Abstract Introduction. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Despite decreases in cancer mortality overall, rural populations continue to have higher prevalence and slower reduction of cancer death rates. As a preventive approach to combat cancer, the National Cancer Institute continues to prioritize providing the public with health information. Yet, little is known about cancer information-seeking across rural America and even less about its ethnic/racial distribution. Methods. Using Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes (RUCAs), from the 2018 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS-5) Cycle 2 database we analyze the odds of looking for information about cancer across four geo-political contexts (n=2,625): urban, large-rural, small-rural, and isolated-rural areas, thus giving us a potentially more detailed understanding of place and health across the urban-rural continuum. We test for the interaction of race and rurality to see if the association between RUCAs and health seeking differs for Whites and non-Whites. Using an established social determinants framework, a series of logistic regression models were fitted to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results. Across all models, those living in isolated rural areas had approximately 0.4 times the odds of seeking cancer information compared to urban-dwellers (p<0.05). Interestingly, this association is worse for ethnic minorities as the odds drops to 0.11 for non-Whites in isolated rural areas compared to Whites living in isolated rural areas. Conclusions. In this study, compared to urban-dwellers, those living in isolated rural areas have lower odds of seeking cancer information. This relationship was worse for ethnic minorities. Understanding this relationship between place and health has implication for the allocation of resources and the design of interventions aimed at increasing information about cancer. Citation Format: Gilberto Lopez, Heather Mattie. Cancer information seeking across four categories of an urban/rural continuum: The intersection of place, race, and health information in rural America [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr A017.