Socio-economic inequalities in stage at diagnosis, and in time intervals on the lung cancer pathway from first symptom to treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis.
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Publication Date
2017-05Journal Title
Thorax
ISSN
0040-6376
Publisher
BMJ Group
Volume
72
Pages
430-436
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Physical Medium
Print-Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Forrest, L. F., Sowden, S., Rubin, G., White, M., & Adams, J. (2017). Socio-economic inequalities in stage at diagnosis, and in time intervals on the lung cancer pathway from first symptom to treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis.. Thorax, 72 430-436. https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-209013
Abstract
Cancer diagnosis at an early stage increases the chance of curative treatment and of survival. It has been suggested that delays on the pathway from first symptom to diagnosis and treatment may be socio-economically patterned, and contribute to socio-economic differences in receipt of treatment and in cancer survival. This review aimed to assess the published evidence for socio-economic inequalities in stage at diagnosis of lung cancer, and in the length of time spent on the lung cancer pathway. MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL databases were searched to locate cohort studies of adults with a primary diagnosis of lung cancer, where the outcome was stage at diagnosis or the length of time spent within an interval on the care pathway, or a suitable proxy measure, analysed according to a measure of socio-economic position. Meta-analysis was undertaken when there were studies available with suitable data. Of the 461 records screened, 39 papers were included in the review (20 from the UK) and seven in a final meta-analysis for stage at diagnosis. There was no evidence of socio-economic inequalities in late stage at diagnosis in the most, compared with the least, deprived group (OR=1.04, 95% CI=0.92 to 1.19). No socio-economic inequalities in the patient interval or in time from diagnosis to treatment were found. Socio-economic inequalities in stage at diagnosis are thought to be an important explanatory factor for survival inequalities in cancer. However, socio-economic inequalities in stage at diagnosis were not found in a meta-analysis for lung cancer. PROSPERO PROTOCOL REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42014007145.
Keywords
Humans, Lung Neoplasms, Neoplasm Staging, Socioeconomic Factors, Health Status Disparities, Healthcare Disparities, Early Detection of Cancer
Sponsorship
LF was funded by the Institute of Health and Society and the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University. SS is funded by the NHS through Health Education North East. When this work was initiated JA, MW and GR were funded in part as a staff member (JA), director (MW) and senior investigator (GR) of Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health (www.fuse.ac.uk). Currently, JA and MW are funded by the Centre for Diet & Activity Research (CEDAR). Fuse and CEDAR are UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Public Health Research Centres of Excellence. Funding for Fuse and CEDAR from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research and Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged.
Funder references
MRC (MR/K023187/1)
Wellcome Trust (087636/Z/08/Z)
ESRC (ES/G007462/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-209013
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/261168
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