title: Oral cancer screening and socioeconomic status.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if awareness of oral cancer screening correlates with socioeconomic status (SES) and to determine if screening for oral cancer correlates with SES.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were obtained from the 2008 American National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Our primary measure of SES was education; additional measures for SES included income, race, health insurance, and immigration status. We performed a logistic regression analysis, controlling for important demographic characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Awareness of oral cancer screening increases with higher education levels (< grade 9 OR 0.37 [CI 0.29-0.48], grade 9-12 OR 0.53 [CI 0.44-0.65], high school OR 0.68 [CI 0.59-0.77], higher degree OR 1.13 [CI 0.96-1.34]). Similarly, screening for oral cancer increases with higher education levels (< grade 9 OR 0.31 [CI 0.23-0.42], grade 9-12 OR 0.34 [CI 0.26-0.43], high school OR 0.60 [CI 0.52-0.68], higher degree OR 1.41 [CI 1.18-1.67]). We found that race, income, immigration, and health insurance status were statistically significant correlates with oral cancer awareness and screening.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher SES individuals are more likely to be aware of and screened for oral cancer. This is problematic because oral cancers are more prevalent in low SES groups. Future awareness and screening campaigns should be directed at vulnerable low SES populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON. sjohn054@uottawa.ca
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: J Ted
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corsten
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology