A Novel Analysis on the Effects of Changes in the Social Vulnerability Index and its Subcategories on Changes in Survival Rates for Six Common Cancers from 2000-2020

Overview

The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) measures health vulnerability based on four subcategories: socioeconomic status, household characteristics, housing type, and racial and ethnic minority status. SVI factors can cause epigenetic changes that increase cancer risk, making its correlation important to study. Previous studies established correlations between static SVI and cancer survival rates. This study explores the effect of changes in county -level SVI values from 2000 to 2020 on changes in three-year survival rates for six common cancers: breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, melanoma, and prostate. Due to past support that SVI and cancer survival rates are directly correlated, long term correlations were also hypothesized to trend in the same direction. SVI and Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) survival rate datasets were run through rigorous exclusion criteria and categorized based on degree of change. Multinomial logistic regressions in Rwere employed to examine the direction of correlations between the overall and subcategory SVI values and survival rates. This study revealed a non -uniform relationship between changes in SVI and cancer survival, with unexpected findings such as direct correlations between increased survival rates and vuln erable minority populations in breast and prostate cancers, partially disproving the original hypothesis. Findings also reveal the varying influence between different SVI factors across cancers, possibly aiding in creating tailored policy interventions that can jointly address multifaceted health vulnerabilities in the future. This study could help policymakers identify communities for long term, targeted interventions across cancer types. Further research is needed to expand these findings across additiona l contexts and populations.