Decker Hannah, Erickson Caroline, Wick Elizabeth
Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
Clin Colon Rectal Surg. 2024 May 2;38(1):5-10. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-1786531. eCollection 2025 Jan.
Housing is essential for health. Unhoused individuals have markedly worse health status than the general population culminating in higher rates of premature mortality. Cancer is a leading cause of death in older unhoused adults. Caring for unhoused patients at risk for or with colorectal cancer poses challenges at every stage of oncologic care: prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. These challenges result in later stages at diagnosis and worse overall survival. Health systems can work to advance health equity in colorectal cancer in unhoused patients by improving access to care, transitions of care, health care quality, and focusing on socioeconomic/environmental impact.
住房对健康至关重要。无家可归者的健康状况明显比普通人群差,最终导致过早死亡率更高。癌症是老年无家可归成年人的主要死因。在肿瘤护理的每个阶段,照顾有患结直肠癌风险或已患结直肠癌的无家可归患者都面临挑战:预防、筛查、诊断、治疗和随访。这些挑战导致诊断时处于较晚阶段且总体生存率较差。卫生系统可以通过改善医疗服务可及性、医疗过渡、医疗质量,并关注社会经济/环境影响,努力促进无家可归患者在结直肠癌方面的健康公平。