Incarceration and Cancer Outcomes

We will create the first comprehensive linkage of a tumor registry, correctional system data, and state vital statistics supplemented with in-depth interviews, to conduct a sequential explanatory mixed methods study of individuals with cancer. We will describe the burden of cancer among individuals with a history of incarceration at the population level in Connecticut. Among Connecticut residents who are diagnosed with cancer (2005-2014), we will assess the relation between incarceration and cancer mortality; the quality of cancer care; and the degree to which incarceration status moderates the relation between race, socioeconomic status and quality of cancer care and mortality. We will then use these data to inform a qualitative study of individual perceptions regarding accessing cancer care in the correctional system and in the immediate post-release period.

Funding source: National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute)

Principal Investigator: Emily Wang and Cary Gross