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Lower Socioeconomic Status decreases chances
of early detection and survival of
Colorectal Cancer
Newswise — An abstract
presented at the American Association for
Cancer Research’s Seventh Annual
International Conference on Frontiers in
Cancer Prevention Research shows that lower
socioeconomic status reduced the chance of
early stage diagnosis and survival of
colorectal cancer in Colorado.
“Diagnosis of colorectal
cancer at an early stage can lead to better
survival. Good screening tests for early
stage diagnosis of colorectal cancer are
available,” Alma Palisoc, M.D., a preventive
medicine resident physician at the
University of Colorado Denver and lead
author of the study, said.
“However, those in the lower
socioeconomic groups and those having no
health insurance or only Medicaid coverage
are more likely to be diagnosed with
colorectal cancer at a later stage of
disease when survival is worse.”
In the study, Palisoc, and
her co-authors from the Colorado School of
Public Health and the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment, used data
from 21,212 colorectal cancers reported to
the Colorado Central Cancer Registry over a
12-year period.
Using information from the
2000 U.S. census on block group
socioeconomic characteristics, they then
examined differences in early-stage
diagnosis and five-year, cause-specific
survival by socioeconomic status.
They found early-stage
diagnosis was less common for all three
socioeconomic groups among those with no
health insurance or only Medicaid coverage.
They also observed that
early-stage diagnosis was less common among
those younger than 65 among lower
socioeconomic groups.
“In contrast, for those 65
and older, Medicare covers colorectal cancer
screening tests and so earlier-stage
diagnosis was observed to be similar among
the three groups.”
More important, for those
under the age of 65, there was a 19 percent
decrease in five-year survival between the
higher and lower groups.
“We concluded that both lack
of health insurance and being in a lower
socioeconomic strata are important risk
factors for later stage colorectal cancers
and for poorer survival from colorectal
cancer,” Palisoc said.
Colorectal cancer incidence rates have
declined considerably over the last two
decades, due to increased screening, which
allows physicians to detect and remove
colorectal polyps before forming cancer.
“Later detection and,
therefore, lower survival of colorectal
cancer among those in the low socioeconomic
strata were most likely due to barriers in
accessing screening tests,” Palisoc said.
“These findings can hopefully
raise more awareness to the importance of
removing barriers to lifesaving health
services such as screening tests and
treatment for colorectal cancer, “ Palisoc
said.
“We need to identify ways to
provide such services in Colorado and across
the nation, even for people without health
insurance.”
The mission of the American
Association for Cancer Research is to
prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907,
AACR is the world’s oldest and largest
professional organization dedicated to
advancing cancer research.
The membership includes more
than 28,000 basic, translational and
clinical researchers; health care
professionals; and cancer survivors and
advocates in the United States and 80 other
countries.
The AACR marshals the full
spectrum of expertise from the cancer
community to accelerate progress in the
prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
cancer through high-quality scientific and
educational programs.
It funds innovative,
meritorious research grants. The AACR Annual
Meeting attracts more than 17,000
participants who share the latest
discoveries and developments in the field.
Special conferences throughout the year
present novel data across a wide variety of
topics in cancer research, treatment and
patient care.
The AACR publishes five major
peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research;
Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer
Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &
Prevention.
The AACR’s most recent
publication and its sixth major journal,
Cancer Prevention Research, is dedicated
exclusively to cancer prevention, from
preclinical research to clinical trials.
The AACR also publishes CR, a
magazine for cancer survivors and their
families, patient advocates, physicians and
scientists. CR provides a forum for sharing
essential, evidence-based information and
perspectives on progress in cancer research,
survivorship and advocacy.
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