Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The 66 million Americans who live in rural areas experience notable cancer disparities. It is imperative to examine the spatial elements of these disparities to know how to best target policies and interventions. Our review summarizes spatial methods in rural cancer control research. RECENT FINDINGS: Spatial methods relevant for rural cancer control research range from identifying patterns to spatial accessibility to regression approaches. Recent applications have adapted to the new rural health landscape by considering the role of telehealth in spatial accessibility measures and the impact of rural hospital closures in multilevel regression modeling with spatial considerations. Further, research continues to innovate on small area estimation techniques to provide useful risk factor and burden estimates to inform interventions. SUMMARY: As rural cancer disparities persist, it is critical that researchers continue to develop and adapt spatial methods that will best inform policies and interventions to reduce these disparities.