Demographic and socioeconomic disparities in pediatric cancer in the United States: Current knowledge, deepening understanding, and expanding intervention.

While survival of pediatric cancer has improved greatly over the past 40 years, demographic and socioeconomic disparities have meant that some groups have not benefitted as much from these advances. We conducted a rapid review to summarize literature on demographic and socioeconomic disparities in outcomes of childhood cancer, starting in 2000. We find that unequal outcomes have been noted for many of these groups across hematologic malignancies, central nervous system tumors, and other solid tumors, although occasional studies have noted absence of disparities for particular at-risk groups and diseases, and gaps in understanding of disparities for some cancer subtypes and groups still exist. These include disparities in duration of overall survival, risk of death, more extensive disease at presentation, and differences/delays in treatment. Black race, Hispanic ethnicity, lack of private insurance, and adolescent/young adult age are most often associated with these poorer outcomes. We then delve into documented and theorized causes of these disparities, including impaired access to care and clinical trials, differences in cancer biology, treatment non-adherence, language barriers, and implicit racial bias. Here, it is clear that socioeconomic factors account for a large proportion of disparities seen, although not all, and that the causes of disparities are complex and interconnected and still need to be better understood. Finally, in an effort to shift emphasis to addressing disparities, we review interventions against disparities that have been studied in childhood cancer patients and other populations, including improving clinical trial representation, communication, health literacy, and family navigation. We suggest ways forward in disparity mitigation toward a goal of achieving equitable cancer outcomes for all children.