The effect of socioeconomic status on the long-term outcome of cancer

This study reports the 8- to 10-year follow-up of male and female patients between the ages of 25 and 70, admitted to two Ontario Regional Cancer Centres with newly diagnosed cancers of a number of common sites. Information was gathered by interview on education, occupation, and chronic illnesses other than cancer. Stage of disease at diagnosis, exact pathologic diagnosis, date of diagnosis, treatment before and after clinic admission, and status of each patient on the last date for which information was available were obtained from clinic charts. Cox's proportional hazards model was used to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and duration of survival, with adjustment for other significant prognostic factors. For breast and prostate, there is weak evidence that high SES is associated with improved survival; for other sites, there is no evidence that SES affected survival.