Historical redlining and survival among children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer diagnosed between 2000–2019 in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington

https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cncr.35677 More young people die of cancer in historically redlined areas, per study Almost a century after people living in certain neighborhoods around Seattle and Tacoma, Washington were systemically denied financial services — a discriminatory, racist practice known as redlining — young cancer patients in those areas are dying at higher rates than those who live in unaffected areas. An association between historic redlining and survival of adult-onset cancers has already been shown, but the data on adolescent and young-adult cancers come from a study published today in CANCER. Researchers analyzed data from 2000 to 2019 in those Washington cities on more than 4,300 patients aged 40 or younger, along with homeowners’ loan data and recent census tracts. They found that five years and 10 years after diagnosis, fewer people in previously redlined neighborhoods were still alive than those unaffected. (That’s about 85% vs. 90% five years out and 81% vs. 88% after ten years.) The disparity in deaths remained even after adjusting for factors like poverty. It emphasizes the importance of contextualizing today’s health disparities, the authors write, as well as the impact discrimination can have generations down the line.