Cancer risk in relationship to different indicators of adult socioeconomic position in Turin, Italy.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the magnitude of social inequalities in cancer incidence according to different socioeconomic indicators and to assess the independent role of each indicator.


METHODS
Data from the Turin Longitudinal Study and the Piedmont Cancer Registry (1985-1999) were used to analyse the relationship of cancer incidence with three dimensions of individual socioeconomic position (education, occupation, and material living conditions) and with an area-based deprivation index. Multivariate Poisson regression models were used to estimate both relative risks and relative indexes of inequality (RIIs).


RESULTS
Results showed an independent role of all the socioeconomic indicators. The overall gradients of inequalities, expressed by the RIIs for total cancer incidence, varied from 9 to 26% among men; among women, we estimated a 22% protection at the bottom of the educational hierarchy, and a 12% gradient for decreasing ease of living conditions. For most cancer sites, socioeconomic position in early adult life was as important as later socioeconomic position, while the area-based deprivation index played only an additional role.


CONCLUSIONS
Different socioeconomic indicators pinpoint to a series of specific risk factors that are related to specific phases of the life course. Individual level data, rather than ecological data, is preferred to accurately monitor social inequalities in cancer risk.
Spadea
Teresa
T
Regional Epidemiology Unit, ASL TO3 Piedmont Region, Grugliasco, Italy. teresa.spadea@epi.piemonte.it
Zengarini
Nicolás
N
Kunst
Anton
A
Zanetti
Roberto
R
Rosso
Stefano
S
Costa
Giuseppe
G
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009790:Occupations; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors