Disparities in cancer treatment outcomes among asian americans: implications for the asian american network for cancer awareness, research and training.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the scope of concern of Asian Americans in cancer treatment.

Methods: AANCART, the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training, is a project whose goal includes promoting the well-being of Asian Americans through educating the public, increasing data on cancer, and helping health care providers better treat their Asian American patients.

Findings: In many instances, Asian Americans have the highest cancer rate compared with other ethnic groups. Knowledge gaps exist for both the patient and the health professional, preventing proper assessment of the patient's needs.

Conclusions: Asian Americans are difficult to reach because of bipolar population distributions, cultural barriers, and lack of patient care data. With the efforts of AANCART, this racial group should be able to reduce some of the cancer treatment disparities that currently exist.