Relation between socioeconomic status and tumour stage in patients with breast, colorectal, ovarian, and lung cancer: results from four national, population based studies
BMJ 2001; 322 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.322.7290.830 (Published 07 April 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;322:830
- David H Brewster, director of cancer registration in Scotland (David.Brewster@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk)a,
- Catherine S Thomson, senior statisticiana,
- David J Hole, deputy directorb,
- Roger J Black, heada,
- Paul L Stroner, coordinator of the Scottish Cancer Therapy Networka,
- Charles R Gillis, directorb the Scottish Cancer Therapy Network.
- a Scottish Cancer Intelligence Unit, Information and Statistics Division, Trinity Park House, Edinburgh EH5 3SQ
- b West of Scotland Cancer Surveillance Unit, Department of Public Health, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8RZ
- Correspondence to: D H Brewster
- Accepted 13 December 2000
Although there is evidence that patients with cancer from deprived communities in Scotland might present with more advanced disease,1–3 this finding has not been replicated in every study.4 Using data from four population based audits, we investigated whether there is any relation between socioeconomic status and tumour stage at presentation in patients with breast, colorectal, ovarian, and lung cancer.
Participants, methods, and results
For each audit potential study populations were identified from the Scottish Cancer Registry, and data were abstracted from medical records. The years of diagnosis for patients with breast, colorectal, ovarian, and lung cancer were 1993, 1993, 1992-4, and 1995, respectively.
The staging details examined were: pathological size, pathological nodal status, and metastatic status for breast cancers; Dukes' stage for colorectal cancers; Fédération Internationale de Gynécologie et d'Obstétrique stage for ovarian cancers; and a simple extent of disease classification based on clinical findings or investigations for lung cancers (as only 11% of cases had surgical resection), or …