Socioeconomic status and gastric cancer survival in Japan

• Published in: Gastric cancer : official journal of the International Gastric Cancer Association and the Japanese Gastric Cancer Association Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 222 - 230
• Main Authors: Kuwahara, Aya, Takachi, Ribeka, Tsubono, Yoshitaka, Sasazuki, Shizuka, Inoue, Manami, Tsugane, Shoichiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Japan : Springer Japan 01.11.2010; Springer Japan; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abdominal Surgery; Adult; Cancer Research; Disparities; education; Educational Status; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gastric cancer; Gastroenterology; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Japan - epidemiology; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; occupations; Occupations - statistics & numerical data; Oncology; Original Article; Risk Factors; Social Class; stomach neoplasms; Stomach Neoplasms - mortality; Surgical Oncology; Survival Analysis; Unemployment - statistics & numerical data; Japan; Gastric Cancer; Disparities; Education; Japan; Occupations
• ISSN: 1436-3291; 1436-3305
• DOI: 10.1007/s10120-010-0561-4

Background Few studies have investigated the association between socioeconomic status and the survival of cancer patients in Japan. Methods We examined whether occupation or educational level was associated with the survival of 725 gastric cancer patients who were diagnosed within an ongoing large population-based cohort study. Results After adjustment for age at diagnosis, and sex, we found that, compared with professionals or office workers, unemployed subjects (hazard ratio [HR], 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27-3.92) and manual laborers (HR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.07-2.62) had an increased risk of gastric cancer death. After further adjustment for the clinical extent of disease, the increased risk disappeared. Educational level was not associated with the risk. Conclusions These findings suggest that a disparity in survival by occupation exists among Japanese gastric cancer patients, largely due to a lower proportion of early disease among the unemployed and manual laborers.