Selected Articles from This Issue

Abstract

Cancer mortality rates are high in rural areas in the United States, and practitioner uses of rural informal collaborative networks are not well understood. Carothers, Allen, and colleagues conducted network analyses in five rural service areas with agencies that address cancer risk, measuring collaborations on cancer prevention activities and health service referrals. Results were disseminated to practitioners through infographics, workshops, and online interactive applications. Practitioners used the analyses for strategic planning, to identify relationship improvement opportunities, and demonstrate network strengths to funders. Dissemination of findings to network members facilitates real-world use of results to benefit programs and policies.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience lower life expectancy and poorer cancer survival rates than other Australians. Dasgupta and colleagues examine this disparity using a study cohort of more than 700,000 Australians diagnosed with an invasive solid cancer from 2005–2016. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders experienced consistently lower remaining life expectancy after a cancer diagnosis than other Australians. One-third of the difference was due to cancer mortality. If the differences in cancer mortality were removed, the average life years remaining following a cancer diagnosis would increase by 17%. These important differences highlight the need for culturally appropriate, accessible and effective health services and cancer care.Prior studies of breast cancer disparities have focused primarily on differences between Black and White women, yet contemporary patterns of disparity for other groups are not well understood. Primm and colleagues used the most recent data available from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) to examine breast cancer disparities by stage at diagnosis across nine racial and ethnic groups. Analysis of breast cancer outcomes by racial and ethnic groups, the authors found persistent disparities in both the likelihood of being diagnosed at an early stage, and also in survival among women diagnosed at early stages. The results have implications for efforts to reduce entrenched racial and ethnic disparities in breast cancer early detection and survival.Metabolomics studies are usually conducted in a relatively small number of participants. Shu and colleagues performed integrative analyses to combine circulating metabolomics data with large-scale genome-wide association data to infer the associations between genetically predicted circulating metabolite levels and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. The study identified 21 metabolites (mainly lipids) that were significantly associated with CRC risk in both European and East Asian populations. These identified metabolites should be investigated further for their potential to be developed into new tools for risk assessment of CRC in the two populations.