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Cancer Control Research

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project will explore the relationship between neighborhood context and measures of health among Hispanics. In preliminary analyses, the investigators have found that an increasing percentage of Hispanics residing in a census tract is related to low overall mortality, cancer mortality, and cancer incidence among Hispanics, after controlling for numerous community and individual characteristics and risk factors, including immigrant status and acculturation. At the same time, increasing census tract percent Hispanics is associated with decreased survival after a diagnosis of cancer. The investigators now propose to explore the reasons for these strong neighborhood effects on health by examining several data sets linked to census data: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data on cancer incidence and survival, vital registration data on cancer mortality, and the National Health Interview Survey-National Death Index file on cancer prevalence and mortality and all cause mortality. Finally, the researchers will investigate the relationship of Hispanic census tract density and other contextual measures with individual characteristics, health behaviors, social support, affective disorders and physiologic measures using a census-linked NHANES file.