Social determinants of health have been proven to impact access to care, but further delineation is necessary to describe their effect on treatment selection itself. To mitigate this knowledge gap, the Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) sought to identify the impact that social determinants of health may have on guideline-concordant treatment selection in hormone receptor positive, HER2 negative, metastatic breast cancer and early breast cancer. In this episode, CANCER BUZZ speaks with Niharika Dixit, MD, medical oncologist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and professor of medicine at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Dixit sheds light on inadequate insurance coverage and the challenges faced by health systems during comprehensive treatment planning. She considers the impact of social determinants of health on screening, timely diagnosis, treatment tolerability, and adherence.
“Many of the patients who have barriers related to social determinants of health would not be included in the clinical trials that determine the guidelines for treating breast cancer. I cannot overstate the importance of that—addressing social determinants of health brings more patients who are from racial and ethnic minoritized groups, who would make our clinical trials richer and our evidence-based guidelines more generalizable.”—Niharika Dixit, MD
Niharika Dixit, MD Medical Oncologist Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital San Francisco, CA
Professor of Medicine UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center San Francisco, CA
This podcast was developed in connection with the ACCC educational initiative Social Drivers of Health in Metastatic Breast Cancer and made possible with support by Pfizer.
Resources: