Grant: Project Grant

Not all Canadians have the same cancer risk, receive the same quality of healthcare after a cancer diagnosis, or have the same prognosis. This may be the result of many things including how much money someone has, their education, where they live, or discrimination within the healthcare system that causes people to be treated differently, regardless of how sick they are. Although cancer is a leading cause of death for Canadians living with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities (IDD), they may be less likely to receive high quality cancer treatment compared to other Canadians. Because people living with IDD are more likely to live in vulnerable circumstances (such as those described above), this may impact how quickly their cancer is diagnosed, their access to life-saving treatment and result in worse outcomes. The goal of this project is to determine whether or not Canadians living with IDD are more likely than Canadians who do not have IDD to be 1) diagnosed with cancer; 2) diagnosed with incurable cancer; 3) not receive the right cancer treatment; and 4) to die of their cancer. To achieve our goal, our team of cancer and IDD researchers and clinicians will perform simultaneous research studies of breast, colorectal, and cancer patients living in Manitoba and Ontario. This will be done by using data routinely collected during encounters with provincial health, social, and education systems. Analyses will be conducted within each respective province. This study will provide the first Canadian research describing cancer outcomes for people with IDD. Without this information, people with IDD may not receive the best care for their cancer, causing unnecessary harm. This study will highlight ways to improve the quality of care provided. We will work with our policy partners to ensure this information is usable and informative to the care of underserved cancer populations.