Why Liver Cancer Hits Home: Bridging Healthcare Disparities in the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

Abstract

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have an increased risk of developing liver cancer and higher risk of death compared to non-Hispanic White individuals. The role of individual-level risk factors, social determinants of health, and barriers navigating health systems present unique challenges in obtaining liver cancer care for these patients. Additionally, the Asian American and Pacific Islander population is a heterogenous group originating from several different countries and speaking various languages, and they are often underrepresented in cancer clinical trial populations. This article describes the challenges faced by Asian American and Pacific Islander patients with liver cancer from the clinician, research, and patient advocacy perspectives and proposes targeted solutions to reduce healthcare disparities in this group.

Keywords:

• Asian American and Pacific Islander
• health equity
• hepatocellular carcinoma
• cancer care

Abbreviations

AAPI, Asian American and Pacific Islanders; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; HCV, hepatitis C virus; US, United States.

Acknowledgments

Nucleus Global provided manuscript editing support.

Disclosure

Dr Daneng Li reports grants, personal fees from AstraZeneca, personal fees from AbbVie, personal fees from Adagene, personal fees from Coherus, personal fees from Delcath Systems, personal fees from Eisai, personal fees from Exelixis, personal fees from Genentech, personal fees from Ipsen, personal fees from Merck, personal fees from QED, personal fees from Servier, personal fees from Sumitomo Pharma Oncology, personal fees from TerSera, personal fees from TransThera Biosciences, and personal fees from TriSalus Life Sciences, outside the submitted work. Dr Spencer Cheng reports grants from Genentech, outside the submitted work. Dr Ruoding Tan reports employment from Roche/Genentech and stocks from Roche/Genentech, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.