Daily radiation treatments present unique logistical challenges for underprivileged and / or rural patients, particularly for those who are both. This tour de force compiled US census data with both AMA and Medicare billing data to analyze county-level radiation resource density specific to breast and prostate cancers. The latter was measured in two ways: (1) provider density (attending radiation oncologists per 100K women/men 35+ years of age) and (2) treatment density (number of Medicare beneficiaries receiving radiation treatment per 100K women/men 65+ years of age). First it confirmed that hot spots for cancer incidence and mortality rates are found primarily in rural counties and even more pronounced in rural counties with a high proportion of Black residents. What’s more, lower rad onc provider density was associated with higher cancer mortality rates on the county-level. Most fun is their interactive map to identify key areas of need. | LaVigne, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2023
