title: Factors driving inequality in prostate cancer survival: a population based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  As cancer control strategies have become more successful, issues around survival have become increasingly important to researchers and policy makers. The aim of this study was to examine the role of a range of clinical and socio-demographic variables in explaining variations in survival after a prostate cancer diagnosis, paying particular attention to the role of healthcare provider(s) i.e. private versus public status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were extracted from the National Cancer Registry Ireland, for patients diagnosed with prostate cancer from 1998-2009 (N = 26,183). A series of multivariate Cox and logistic regression models were used to examine the role of healthcare provider and socio-economic status (area-based deprivation) on survival, controlling for age, stage, Gleason grade, marital status and region of residence. Survival was based on all-cause mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Older individuals who were treated in a private care setting were more likely to have survived than those who had not, when other factors were controlled for. Differences were evident with respect to marital status, region of residence, clinical stage and Gleason grade. The effect of socio-economic status was modified by healthcare provider, such that risk of death was higher in those men of lower socio-economic status treated by public, but not private providers in the Cox models. The logistic models revealed a socio-economic gradient in risk of death overall; the gradient was larger for those treated by public providers compared to those treated by private providers when controlling for a range of other confounding factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The role of healthcare provider and socio-economic status in survival of men with prostate cancer may give rise to concerns that warrant further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Health Economic Research Centre, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Surgical Intervention Trials Unit, Nuffield Department of Surgical Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richéal M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Registry, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: Prostate Cancer Institute, NUI Galway, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Francis J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Registry, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Sandra E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Deady
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Registry, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Frances J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Drummond
authors.affiliation: J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, NUI Galway, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Ciaran
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: O Neill
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012042:Registries