Lung Cancer in Hispanic and Latinx Patients: Risk Factors, Biomarkers, and Clinical Trial Access

In this episode of Targeted Talks, recorded for Hispanic Heritage Month, Narjust Florez, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, explains what oncologists should know about lung cancer in Hispanic and Latinx patients, one of the fastest-growing patient populations in the United States.

Florez describes how risk factors in this population often extend beyond tobacco, including radon exposure, occupational and indoor air pollution such as cooking fumes, and a history of tuberculosis. She discusses the higher frequency of adenocarcinoma and driver alterations, including EGFR, KRAS, and ALK, in the Hispanic and Latinx population, and why biomarker testing is essential for every patient with nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer. She also explains why treating Hispanic and Latinx patients as a single risk group can obscure differences in ancestry, migration patterns, and health care experience.

The conversation also covers barriers to clinical trial enrollment, including consent forms that aren’t translated, unconscious bias, and mistrust of the health care system, along with practical steps clinicians can take, such as “going beyond the no” when a patient declines a trial. Florez closes by describing the EQUAL study which is evaluating a blood test to help detect EGFR-mutated lung cancer earlier.

Learn more about the EQUAL study: https://equalstudy.dana-farber.org/