Influence of education level on cancer survival in Sweden
Background: While cancer survival at several sites has historically been shown to vary by education level, a current comprehensive assessment of survival following a cancer diagnosis in Sweden, a country with universal health care and cancer screening, has yet to be carried out. Methods: Using the 2...
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Published in | Annals of oncology Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 156 - 162 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford
Oxford University Press
01.01.2008
Oxford Publishing Limited (England) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Background: While cancer survival at several sites has historically been shown to vary by education level, a current comprehensive assessment of survival following a cancer diagnosis in Sweden, a country with universal health care and cancer screening, has yet to be carried out. Methods: Using the 2006 update of the Swedish Family-Cancer Database and Cox's proportional hazards regression methods, we calculate the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval to estimate the influence of education level on site-specific cancer survival. Results: Significant positive associations between education level and cancer survival were observed following a diagnosis of upper aerodigestive track cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, urinary bladder cancer, melanoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. Although the HRs differed between cancer sites, compared with women and men completing <9 years of education, university graduates were associated with a significant 40% improved survival for all cancer sites combined. Conclusions: Survival differences by education level were observed for both indolent and aggressive malignancies. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/HXZ-J8J75WHZ-V istex:851E72C3E4A2702A6E3A33EE3F8E15F0A23F673C ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0923-7534 1569-8041 1569-8041 |
DOI: | 10.1093/annonc/mdm413 |