Access to treatment and educational inequalities in cancer survival.
The public health care systems in the Nordic countries provide high quality care almost free of charge to all citizens. However, social inequalities in health persist. Previous research has, for example, documented substantial educational inequalities in cancer survival. We investigate to what extent this may be driven by differential access to and utilization of high quality treatment options. Quasi-experimental evidence based on the establishment of regional cancer wards indicates that (i) highly educated individuals utilized centralized specialized treatment to a greater extent than less educated patients and (ii) the use of such treatment improved these patients' survival.
Department of Economics, BI Norwegian Business School, Norway. Electronic address: jon.h.fiva@bi.no.
Jon H
JH
Fiva
Statistics Norway, Research Department, Norway. Electronic address: thd@ssb.no.
Torbjørn
T
Hægeland
Statistics Norway, Research Department, Norway. Electronic address: mro@ssb.no.
Marte
M
Rønning
Statistics Norway, Research Department, Norway. Electronic address: sya@ssb.no.
Astri
A
Syse
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002173:Cancer Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013038:Specialization / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014195:Travel
Education; Health; Inequality