Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42368952›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in public health2026

Nutritional status and cancer survival among rural Chinese women: biological mechanisms, health disparities, and translational opportunities.

Kelun Zhang, Bing Wang, Yuqin Ji, Huiming Jiang

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Kelun ZhangCollege of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
Bing WangInstitute of Special Environmental Medicine, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
Yuqin JiSchool of Economics and Management, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou, China.
Huiming JiangCollege of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cancer remains a major cause of premature mortality among women worldwide, and its burden is particularly pronounced in rural China, where delayed diagnosis, uneven access to oncology services, and nutritional vulnerability may jointly affect survival. This narrative review synthesizes mechanistic, clinical, and population-level evidence on the relationship between nutritional status and cancer survival among rural Chinese women, with a focus on breast, cervical, gastric, and colorectal cancers. It first outlines the epidemiological profile of major female cancers in rural China and summarizes persistent rural-urban disparities in cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis, treatment access, and survival. It then examines nutrition-related challenges in rural settings, including dietary transition, micronutrient insufficiency, metabolic vulnerability, food insecurity, limited dietary diversity, and the increasing availability of energy-dense ultra-processed foods. The biological pathways linking nutritional status to cancer progression, treatment tolerance, and survivorship are discussed across four interconnected domains: insulin-IGF-1 and AMPK-mTOR signaling, adiposity-related inflammation and tumor microenvironment remodeling, gut microbiome-diet-metabolite interactions affecting estrogen metabolism, and micronutrient-dependent epigenetic regulation. Available clinical and epidemiological evidence on dietary patterns, nutritional biomarkers, and cancer prognosis in Chinese women is reviewed, with attention to methodological limitations and the shortage of rural-specific longitudinal data. The review further considers how food insecurity, low nutrition literacy, weak integration of oncology and nutrition services, and structural inequities in rural health systems may amplify survival disparities. Finally, translational opportunities are discussed, including community-based nutritional screening, integration of nutrition assessment into county-level oncology care, digital health tools, and scalable dietary counseling models adapted to rural contexts. Overall, this review highlights the need for prospective cohort studies with repeated nutritional biomarker assessments, mechanistic validation in rural populations, and equity-oriented policy strategies to improve cancer survivorship among rural Chinese women.

Indexed as

Health Status DisparitiesNeoplasmsNutritional StatusRural PopulationChinaEast Asian PeopleFemaleHumanscancer nutritiongut microbiomehealth disparitiesmetabolic signalingnutritional statusrural Chinawomen’s cancers

Identifiers

PMID42368952
PMCPMC13303902

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.