Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine, 550 First Ave, VZN Suite 844, 8th floor, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
, New York, NY, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2018 Feb;5(1):1-6. doi: 10.1007/s40615-016-0334-9. Epub 2017 Jan 26.
Cancer is the leading cause of death among Asian Americans, and cancer cases among Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans are expected to rise by 132% by 2050. Yet, little is known about biologic and environmental factors that contribute to these higher rates of disease in this population. Precision medicine has the potential to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of morbidity and mortality trends among Asian American subgroups and to reduce cancer-related health disparities by recognizing patients as individuals with unique genetic, environmental, and lifestyle characteristics; identifying ways in which these differences impact cancer expression; and developing tailored disease prevention and clinical treatment strategies to address them. Yet, substantial barriers to the recruitment and retention of Asian Americans in cancer research persist, threatening the success of precision medicine research in addressing these knowledge gaps. This commentary outlines the major challenges to recruiting and retaining Asian Americans in cancer trials, suggests ways of surmounting them, and offers recommendations to ensure that personalized medicine becomes a reality for all Americans.
癌症是亚裔美国人的主要死因，预计到 2050 年，亚裔美国人、太平洋岛民和美国原住民的癌症病例将增加 132%。然而，人们对导致这一人群疾病发病率更高的生物和环境因素知之甚少。精准医学有可能促进更全面地了解亚裔美国人亚群的发病率和死亡率趋势，并通过将患者视为具有独特遗传、环境和生活方式特征的个体来减少与癌症相关的健康差距；确定这些差异如何影响癌症的表达；并制定针对性的疾病预防和临床治疗策略来解决这些问题。然而，在癌症研究中招募和留住亚裔美国人仍然存在重大障碍，这威胁着精准医学研究在解决这些知识空白方面的成功。本评论概述了在癌症试验中招募和留住亚裔美国人所面临的主要挑战，提出了克服这些挑战的方法，并提出了建议，以确保个性化医疗成为所有美国人的现实。
