Housing Assistance and Cancer Risk

A new study led by Professor Craig Pollack (left in image) and researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that older adults receiving federal housing assistance were on average diagnosed at earlier stages with three common cancers—colon, breast, and non-small cell lung—compared to peer cancer patients who were not receiving assistance. For their analysis, the researchers linked information on federal housing assistance—housing choice vouchers, public housing, and multifamily housing—with data from cancer registries and Medicare. They compared the stage of cancer diagnosis among older patients receiving housing assistance at the time of their diagnosis to the stage of diagnosis among individuals with comparable demographics without housing assistance.

The study was published online October 8 in JAMA Network Open.