Terminology Used in the Report

The AACR Cancer Disparities Progress Report 2026 describes the disparate burden of cancer across population groups in the United States (US) and covers a wide range of concepts and topics used in the cancer disparities research literature. The following sections outline key nomenclature and terms used throughout the report. We use population categories, terms, and concepts, without preference or prejudice.

Nomenclature for US Racial and Ethnic Population Groups

In this report, we use race and ethnicity categories defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and based on individuals’ self-identified race and ethnicity. We recognize that the categories described here refer to heterogeneous groups of people and are only relevant based on their use within official registries, health systems, and the decennial census. Furthermore, the OMB categories are socio-politically determined and can change over time. In general, we consider race and ethnicity to be social and political constructs, not defined by genetic or biological differences.

The Hispanic or Latino population has been referred to in different ways across reports and publications, reflecting regional, historical, and generational differences. For consistency, simplicity, and clarity, this report uses the term Hispanic to describe this population. We also recognize that Hispanic individuals can include multiple races.

There is no universally standardized approach to reporting race and ethnicity in medical research, and practices vary across studies. As a result, race and ethnicity are categorized inconsistently in scientific literature. Some studies report race and/or ethnicity as separate, non–mutually exclusive categories, whereas others use mutually exclusive categories (e.g., non-Hispanic [NH] Black, NH Asian or Pacific Islander, NH American Indian or Alaska Native [AIAN], NH White, and Hispanic). For clarity and consistency, when referring to specific racial groups in this report, we typically refer to individuals who do not identify as Hispanic. Accordingly, we refer to racial groups as Black, AIAN, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and White. To determine how race and ethnicity categories were defined in any given study, including whether Hispanic individuals were included within racial categories, please refer to the specific references provided.

Below is a brief list of key terms and their definitions to provide context and clarity to the topics discussed throughout this report.

Cancer disparities. Adverse differences in cancer measures, such as number of new cases, number of deaths, cancer-related health complications, survivorship and quality of life after cancer treatment, screening rates, and stage at diagnosis between certain population groups. These population groups may be characterized by race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, geographic location, income, education, and other characteristics.

Discrimination. Actions, based on conscious or unconscious prejudice, that favor one group over others in the provision of goods, services, or opportunities. Structural and institutional factors can contribute to discriminatory behaviors, including being implicitly biased against other social characteristics such as socioeconomic status, age, race, ethnicity, immigration status, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Diversity. The full range of human similarities and differences in group affiliation, including but not limited to race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, role within an organization, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical ability, ideologies, and other group identities.

Health equity. When all people have a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, education, job, religion, language, geographic location, or other factors.

Injustice. The violation of the right(s) of other people.

Intersectionality. Coined in 1989 by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, the term traces its roots to Black feminist thought and encompasses the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect, especially in the lived experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.

Lived experiences. The representation and understanding of an individual’s human experiences, choices, and options and how those factors influence one’s perception of knowledge based on one’s own life. A better knowledge of people’s lived experiences can inform and improve systems, research, policies, practices, and programs.

Persistent-poverty areas. Defined as an area in which 20 percent or more of its population has lived in poverty over the past three-decade period.

Redlining. A form of illegal disparate treatment whereby a lender provides unequal access to credit, or unequal terms of credit, because of the race, ethnicity, color, national origin, or other prohibited characteristic(s) of the residents of the area in which the credit seeker resides or will reside or in which the residential property to be mortgaged is located.

Rural and urban areas. The US Department of Agriculture classifies these areas using the Rural-Urban Continuum Codes, which distinguish metropolitan (metro) counties by the population size of their metro area and nonmetropolitan counties by their degree of urbanization and adjacency to a metro area. In this report, the terms “metropolitan” and “urban,” as well as “nonmetropolitan” and “rural,” are used interchangeably when describing disparities by place of residence.

Social drivers of health (SDOH). Also referred to as social determinants of health, these are non-medical factors that affect health outcomes. They include the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age. SDOH also include the broader forces and systems that shape everyday life conditions.

Socioeconomic status. A way of describing individuals or neighborhoods based on their education, income, housing, and types of jobs, among other indicators.

Structural and systemic drivers of health (SSDH). The social, cultural, legal, political, and economic context that shapes and creates the conditions of SDOH and everyday life. SSDH are the written and unwritten rules that create, maintain, or eliminate durable and hierarchical patterns of advantage among socially constructed groups in the conditions that affect health, and the manifestation of power relations whereby people and groups with greater power based on current social structures work—implicitly and explicitly—to maintain their advantage by reinforcing or modifying these rules.

Structural racism. A system of organizational and institutional policies created over time that support a continued, unfair advantage for some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on their race or ethnicity. Structural racism influences deep patterns of social, economic, and cultural differences that have developed over time between different groups of people. It affects the physical, social, and economic conditions of where people live, learn, work, and play. It is often measured using system-level indicators—historical policies, residential segregation, and racial inequities across institutions—that capture how social, economic, and environmental resources are systematically distributed across populations.

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