Bridging hope and health in the Hispanic community

Cancer affects everyone. Yet it has an outsized effect on the Hispanic population in the United States.

Cancer is now the leading cause of death for the U.S. Hispanic population, accounting for 20% of deaths.¹ The group also faces an expected 142% rise in cancer cases in the coming years.² The Latino community is diagnosed with cancer at later stages and generally has poorer outcomes when diagnosed with cancer than their white counterparts.

To help address the disparities in these outcomes, Exact Sciences has enacted several initiatives aimed at driving education and awareness of the importance of cancer screening for Latinos. The efforts also work to ensure that those already diagnosed with late-stage cancer have access to the tools that can help inform better treatment decisions, which can lead to better outcomes.

Elevating community priorities in media

To raise awareness of the disparities in cancer outcomes, Exact Sciences sponsored a panel discussion at the 2024 National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) conference. The annual conference brings together a national network of Hispanic journalists who work in both English and Spanish media. The panel included influential voices from across the community, including a Latina colon cancer survivor and advocate, a physician fellow and clinical researcher at City of Hope, and a Latina breast oncologist who predominantly serves Hispanic patients in San Antonio.

Veronica Descotte, chief strategy officer at Exact Sciences, moderated the panel. Panelists explored the root causes of cancer disparities in the Hispanic community, including a lack of representation in clinical trials — U.S. Latinos make up only 6% of clinical trial participants³ — lack of awareness of screening tests, and cultural and structural barriers to care. They also identified actionable solutions, such as educating Latinos about barriers to care and tools that can help improve outcomes, including genomic tests that guide therapy selection, and raising awareness of screening options for colorectal cancer (CRC).

The panel aimed to educate journalists about cancer statistics and disparities in cancer outcomes for Latinos. It was also a call to action to increase coverage of cancer-related stories in media geared at the Latino community.

“Journalists play an important role in helping to educate, raise awareness, and empower Hispanic patients,” Descotte says. “Their stories can help shed light on effective screening options that can detect cancer in earlier stages, when it may be more effectively treated.”⁴

Improving screening rates

CRC is the third leading cause of cancer death among Hispanic men and women, with the disease accounting for 10% of Hispanic deaths in 2021.⁵ The disease continues to be the most preventable but least prevented cancer.⁶ When found at an early stage, the 5-year relative survival rate is close to 90%. However, if the cancer is not caught before it spreads to distant parts of the body, that survival rate drops to around 14%.⁷ Creating awareness of screening options for CRC — including the Cologuard^® test — is key to improving health outcomes. Yet Hispanics are the least likely population to get screened for CRC. There are currently 17 million over age 45, but fewer than half (49%) of these screening-eligible adults undergo recommended screening.^8,9 Barriers to screening include language and cultural differences along with lack of access, but lack of awareness that CRC screening should start at age 45 may also be a factor.

Exact Sciences recently launched its first Spanish-language advertising campaign geared at getting more Hispanics screened for CRC. The national campaign includes television and radio commercials, as well as a social media push targeted at those age 45 and older. It is being featured across major networks, radio, sports, and other programs.

The new campaign also aims to increase awareness among health care professionals of CRC screening disparities in the Hispanic community. It demonstrates how the Cologuard^® test can help by providing a non-invasive approach that can be collected by patients in the privacy of their own home, without any special preparation. The push targets health care professionals in ZIP codes with a higher concentration of Hispanic patients and directs them to a new Spanish-language Cologuard website. The site includes a Spanish-language brochure and how-to video for patients, as well as a new Customer Ordering Experience in Spanish.

Closing the gap in CRC screening

Meeting patients where they are can help increase screening in the Hispanic population. Research suggests that providing materials in Spanish can help this effort. At the 2024 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) meeting, Exact Sciences presented several abstracts that demonstrate improved adherence rates, which measures whether someone actually completes their screening. Three of the abstracts focus on Spanish-language outreach and show that when Spanish communications are used with Spanish-speaking populations, overall CRC screening adherence increases. These initiatives alone directly impacted more than 15,000 lives. Data modeled by Exact Sciences shows that, if implemented across the United States, the programs have the potential to impact more than 1.3 million Spanish-speaking individuals.*

Training patient advocates

One of the barriers to raising awareness and education of cancer screening and treatment options in the Latino community is a lack of patient advocates within the community. To address this issue, in 2024 Exact Sciences sponsored the first-ever workshop geared at training bilingual Latina cancer patient advocates.

Barbara Segarra-Vazquez, D.H.Sc., a professor at the University of Puerto Rico, created the training to address the low advocacy numbers and pulled together a project team to help execute the idea. Latino Cancer Patient Advocates Training (LCPAC) was designed to develop a community of diverse individuals to participate in clinical research teams and decision-making committees with organizations such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Bringing their experiences to these conversations, advocates can share key issues and possible solutions to help eliminate health disparities. The training was held before the Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Participants with lived cancer experience as patients or caregivers were selected from heavily Latino areas of the United States. They represented a variety of cancers, including lung, breast, bile duct, and colorectal cancer. Trainees learned how to be advocates, studying topics that included the cancer impact on Latinos and the importance of screening, genetics, and genomics.

Segarra-Vazquez and colleagues presented the results of the training program as a poster at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved.

Addressing social determinants of health

The root causes of disparities in cancer outcomes for Latinos include social determinants of health (SDOH). These non-medical factors can include economic and social policies, racism, climate change, education levels, language barriers, and lack of insurance, housing, and job security. To help address the issue, Exact Sciences has invested in the Open Table network model to address the needs of all patients by working to remove SDOH that may prevent people from accessing critical cancer care. 

Open Table is a research-driven grassroots model that trains a team of community volunteers to form a “Network Table” that leverages the volunteers’ personal, social, and business networks to help remove barriers faced by individuals or families. Through pilot programs running in Virginia and Florida, Exact Sciences and Open Table will play a role in closing cancer care gaps and improving health equity in those communities.

Exact Sciences is uniquely positioned to help impact disparities in cancer outcomes, with a portfolio that serves patients throughout the cancer experience: tests that provide insights into cancer risk, tests to screen for cancer, and tests that guide therapy selection for those diagnosed with cancer. The organization is committed to taking meaningful action to improve health outcomes for all, including those in the Latino community. 

*Estimates based on modeling abstract performance against the number of U.S. Hispanics.

1. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures for Hispanic/Latino People 2021-2023
2. Smith et al, Journal of Clinical Oncology
3. Turner et al., 2022 LANCET
4. American Cancer Society. Colorectal cancer screening for average-risk adults: 2018 guideline update from the American Cancer Society.
5. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures for Hispanic/Latino People 2021-2023
6. Itzkowitz SH. Incremental advances in excremental cancer detection tests. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2009;101(18):1225-1227.
7. Colon Cancer Coalition. Get the Facts About Colon Cancer
8. U.S. Census. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin of the United States: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023
9. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures for Hispanic/Latino People 2021-2023