THE EFFECT OF SOCIOECONOMIC-STATUS ON THE LONG-TERM OUTCOME OF CANCER

This study reports the 8- to 10-year follow up of male and female pati ents between the ages of 25 and 70, admitted to two Ontario Regional C ancer Centres with newly diagnosed cancers of a number of common sites . Information uas gathered by interview on education, occupation, and chronic illnesses other than cancer. Stage of disease at diagnosis, ex act pathologic diagnosis, date of diagnosis, treatment before and afte r clinic admission, and status of each patient on the last date for wh ich information was available were obtained from clinic charts. Cox's proportional hazards model was used to examine the relationship betwee n socioeconomic status (SES) and duration of survival, with adjustment for other significant prognostic factors. For breast and prostate, th ere is weak evidence that high SES is associated with improved surviva l; for other sites,there is no evidence that SES affected survival.