The Intersection of Societal Inequalities and Health Care: Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ce dossier présente un ensemble d'articles concernant la prise en charge des cancers durant la crise sanitaire liée au COVID-19
It has been extensively documented and widely reported that Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous individuals are more likely to contract and die of COVID-19. However, the ultimate effect of this disparity on receipt of cancer care is not as well known. The racial disparities seen in prostate cancer outcomes are well described, and in this issue of JAMA Oncology, Bernstein and colleagues assess the prostate cancer delivery for Black and White men during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although prepandemic prostatectomy rates were similar between Black and White patients, the prostatectomy rate during the COVID-19 lockdown among Black men was 1.3% compared with 25.9% among White men. The authors also found that these differences in prostatectomy rates were not simply associated with the increased use of radiotherapy for Black men. Correspondingly, they found that hospitals serving predominantly minority communities were more likely to have large-scale shutdowns for elective surgical procedures. These data are consistent with other research demonstrating how the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects poor Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic communities. So, what exactly do these data tell us?
JAMA Oncology , commentaire, 2020