Socioeconomic Status Affects Cancer Mortality Risk

A new study shows that cancer patients with low socioeconomic status face higher risk of death from cancer at time of diagnosis. Patients with low socioeconomic status have more advanced cancers at diagnosis, receive less aggressive treatment and face a higher risk of dying in the five years following cancer diagnosis.

Tim Byers, M.D. of the University of Colorado Denver and colleagues from seven states conducted the Breast, Colon, and Prostate Cancer Data Quality and Patterns of Care (POC) Study that inquired seven state cancer registries. The researchers documented information on cancer stage, treatment received and five-year mortality rates for 13, 598 cancer cases diagnosed in 1997, including 4,844 women with breast cancer, 4,332 men with prostate cancer and 4,422 men and women with colorectal cancer. They also determined the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood of each patient by using 2000 U.S. census income and education data.

Their analysis revealed that for all three types of cancers, individuals of low socioeconomic status had more advanced stages of cancer and received less aggressive treatment. The study supports the need to focus on socioeconomic status as an underlying factor in cancer disparities by race and ethnicity.

The study will appear in the August 1, 2008, issue of Cancer.