Socioeconomic position and delays in lung cancer diagnosis: should we target the more deprived?

Lung cancer incidence and mortality increase with all measures of socioeconomic deprivation primarily because of the fact that smoking rates also increase with the same measures. This powerful association means that we see double the number of people with lung cancer in the most deprived quintile compared with the least deprived. Socioeconomic deprivation is associated with reduced survival, more early deaths (within 30 or 90 days) and lower treatment rates.1–3 Possible explanations include a failure to present and seek help from doctors early and less effective primary healthcare in deprived communities, both factors postulated to result in delays in diagnosis and later stage at presentation. The systematic review and meta-analysis by Forrest et al4 concludes that there is no association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and either stage at diagnosis or time intervals on the lung cancer pathway. More deprived patients were more...
Source: Thorax - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research