State regulations associated with late-stage cancer diagnoses

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to a new study conducted by researchers at Georgia State University's School of Public Health in Atlanta and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, state regulations of health insurance and practitioners are significantly associated with time receive breast or colorectal cancer diagnoses.

For the study, researchers evaluated states' regulatory policies and cancer cases reported between 2004 and 2009 in 40 states using the United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) database.

Results showed that 54% to 60% of newly diagnoses cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed as late-stage cancer, and 24% to 36% of newly diagnosed breast cancers are diagnosed as late-stage.

Of note, the study was conducted between 2010 when the Affordable Care Act was enacted, making cancer screenings more widely available to Americans.

The study was published in the journal Health Economics Review.