A new study led by researchers at Sylvester and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has identified significant disparities in federal cancer research funding.

“Some cancers with high mortality rates in minority populations received relatively lower research funding,” said Shria Kumar, M.D., a colorectal cancer researcher. “Our study highlights the need for federal research funds to be equitably distributed, especially given the discrepancies in cancer incidence rates and outcomes for minorities, particularly in the more underfunded cancers.”

In the study, the Sylvester researchers evaluated NCI funding distribution to the most common cancers, using data from NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results, United States Cancer Statistics database, and funding statistics between 2014 and 2018. For each year, the researchers identified the incidence rate and mortality rate per 100,000 persons for the 19 most common cancer sites, as well as NCI funding for each cancer. The incidence and mortality rates were also analyzed by race and ethnicity.

“We also evaluated funding-to-lethality and cancer incidence and mortality rates within individual racial and ethnic groups,” said Dr. Kumar. “We found that NCI funding correlated highly with cancers afflicting a higher proportion of non-Hispanic whites, such as breast cancer, leukemia and lymphoma, compared with stomach, uterine and liver cancers, which have high incidence rates in minority populations.” For example, Black Americans, Hispanics, and Asians and Pacific Islanders are two to three times more likely to die from stomach cancer than non-Hispanic whites. As for uterine cancer, white and Black women are diagnosed at similar rates, but Black women are twice as likely to die from it.

Dr. Kumar noted the study’s importance as “NCI funding is the driver of research that can help unlock answers in our quest to improve outcomes for our entire population.”