Socioeconomic status and gastric cancer survival in Japan.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have investigated the association between socioeconomic status and the survival of cancer patients in Japan.


METHODS
We examined whether occupation or educational level was associated with the survival of 725 gastric cancer patients who were diagnosed within an ongoing large population-based cohort study.


RESULTS
After adjustment for age at diagnosis, and sex, we found that, compared with professionals or office workers, unemployed subjects (hazard ratio [HR], 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27-3.92) and manual laborers (HR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.07-2.62) had an increased risk of gastric cancer death. After further adjustment for the clinical extent of disease, the increased risk disappeared. Educational level was not associated with the risk.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that a disparity in survival by occupation exists among Japanese gastric cancer patients, largely due to a lower proportion of early disease among the unemployed and manual laborers.
Department of Food and Nutritional Science, Shuko Junior College, Iwate, Japan.
Aya
A
Kuwahara
Ribeka
R
Takachi
Yoshitaka
Y
Tsubono
Shizuka
S
Sasazuki
Manami
M
Inoue
Shoichiro
S
Tsugane
D000328:Adult; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data