Disparities in Genetic Testing for Heritable Solid-Tumor Malignancies

Jacquelyn Dillon; Foluso O Ademuyiwa; Megan Barrett; Haley A Moss; Elizabeth Wignall; Carolyn Menendez; Kevin S Hughes; Jennifer K Plichta

doi:10.1016/j.soc.2021.08.004

Disparities in Genetic Testing for Heritable Solid-Tumor Malignancies

Surg Oncol Clin N Am. 2022 Jan;31(1):109-126. doi: 10.1016/j.soc.2021.08.004. Epub 2021 Oct 19.

Authors

Jacquelyn Dillon¹, Foluso O Ademuyiwa², Megan Barrett³, Haley A Moss⁴, Elizabeth Wignall⁵, Carolyn Menendez⁶, Kevin S Hughes⁷, Jennifer K Plichta⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA.
³ Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
⁴ Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/haleyarden1.
⁵ Clinical Cancer Genetics, Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC, USA.
⁶ Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Clinical Cancer Genetics, Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/@CSMenendez.
⁷ Surgical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: jennifer.plichta@duke.edu.

PMID: 34776060
DOI: 10.1016/j.soc.2021.08.004

Abstract

Genetic testing offers providers a potentially life saving tool for identifying and intervening in high-risk individuals. However, disparities in receipt of genetic testing have been consistently demonstrated and undoubtedly have significant implications for the populations not receiving the standard of care. If correctly used, there is the potential for genetic testing to play a role in decreasing health disparities among individuals of different races and ethnicities. However, if genetic testing continues to revolutionize cancer care while being disproportionately distributed, it also has the potential to widen the existing mortality gap between various racial and ethnic populations.

Keywords: Disparities; Genetic testing; Germline genetic testing; Hereditary cancer.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Ethnicity
Genetic Testing*
Humans
Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Neoplasms* / genetics
United States