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Affluent women get 'better cancer care'
Women from deprived areas receive worse treatment for breast cancer than those living in more affluent areas, according to new research.
The study also found that women from lower socio-economic backgrounds were less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer while the disease was in its early stages – when treatment is most effective.
They were also less likely to live as long as women from more wealthy backgrounds, said the Cancer Research UK study published in the British Journal of Cancer.
Experts said the results could be down to a combination of factors, including the decisions patients make about their care.
A total of 12,768 patients from northern areas of England were studied, all of whom were diagnosed between 1998 and 2000.
Regardless of the stage at which they had the disease, 40 per cent of the most affluent had lumpectomies, where tissue is removed, rather than full mastectomies.
However, among the most deprived, only 31 per cent received a lumpectomy, which allows more of the breast to be conserved.
More than 22 per cent of women from deprived backgrounds did not get any surgery as opposed to just over 13 per cent of the more affluent women.
Reasons included women having additional health problems that made them unfit for surgery, choosing not to have surgery, and women not going to the doctor as soon as they had symptoms which meant the disease was more advanced.
A slightly higher proportion of affluent women were seen within 14 days of referral by their doctor than women from more deprived areas.
Women in deprived areas were less likely to be given radiotherapy and, on average, had a lower rate of five-year survival.
Experts said the decisions patients made about their care could be influenced by their level of education or their ability to pay for repeated visits to hospital for treatment.
Professor David Forman, who led the study and is based at Leeds University, said: "Part of the problem we have identified may be based on the fact that women from a more deprived background are diagnosed when the disease is more advanced. This means that treatment decisions are more complex."
Around 42,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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