Liver Cancer Long-Term Adherence to Monitoring/Treatment in Underserved Asian Americans with Chronic HBV

Co-Leaders:
Grace X. Ma, PhD (TUFCCC), Sarit A. Golub, PhD (HC)

ESIs:
Nestor Esnaola, MD, MPH (TUFCCC), Chibuzo Enemchukwu, MD (HC)

Although Asian Americans make up 6% of total U.S. population, they account for over 50% of Americans with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), which is associated with 75% of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer. Asian Americans as a liver cancer disparity population are 8-13 times more likely to develop liver cancer with 60% higher death rate than non-Hispanic whites (NHWs). Research indicates that blood tests every six months and an abdominal ultrasound every 12 months, combined with antiviral treatment (e.g. entecavir or tenofovir) when appropriate, is the gold standard of care to reduce the risk of liver disease (including HCC). However, adherence to monitoring and antiviral treatment guidelines among Asian American patients with CHB is as low as 40% to 53%.

Poor healthcare access and significant cultural barriers may prevent long-term adherence to monitoring and optimal treatment, placing Asian Americans at a disproportionately high risk for HCC and increased healthcare costs. Building on previous studies on a patient navigator-led intervention to improve monitoring and care among noncompliant Asian American with CHB, conducted by our established academic-clinical-community research team, we developed and pilot tested a virtual patient navigation toolkit system (VPN toolkit) to replace our traditional patient navigator-led CHB management.

Since our preliminary data and other studies indicate that text messaging (TM) interventions have potential to significantly improve adherence to treatment across illnesses, we propose to test the effectiveness of TM versus enhanced mHealth intervention (VPN Toolkit + TM) designed to help sustain and improve long-term adherence (i.e., 18 months follow ups) to monitoring and antiviral treatment guidelines, thereby reducing cancer health disparities among underserved at-risk Asian Americans with CHB leveraging our existing cohort of CHB patients.