Long-term survival after breast cancer is significantly higher among affluent women than others, experts reported today.
The figures come from a study of more than 380,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer in England and Wales between 1986 and 2000, and followed up until 2004.
Although long-term survival is rising overall, a worrying survival gap still remains between women living in poor and affluent areas, writes Professor Michel Coleman of Cancer Research UK in the British Journal of Cancer.
The “deprivation gap” in survival is apparent one year after diagnosis, and doubles four years later. A debate over the reasons for this survival inequality could lead to better understanding, Professor Coleman believes.
He suggests that the gap may be due to lower take-up of radiotherapy or problems with access to chemotherapy or hormone therapy, such as the life-prolonging drug tamoxifen. Other experts, writing in the same journal, say the gap could be due to patients in deprived areas being diagnosed later, or having higher rates of other life-threatening diseases.
The government’s National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards, points out that opinions vary between clinicians and statisticians on the cause of the survival gap.
“These differences of opinion highlight the need for high quality information on the details of cancer staging and additional diseases to be collected by clinical teams and made available to the cancer registries,” he said.
Cancer Research UK is holding its annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, aiming to raise awareness of the disease and boost fund-raising for research.
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