BackgroundThis population-based study investigated the relationship between individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and mortality rates for major cancers in Taiwan.MethodsA population-based follow-up study was conducted with 20,488 cancer patients diagnosed in 2002. Each patient was traced to death or for 5 years. The individual income-related insurance payment amount was used as a proxy measure of individual SES for patients. Neighborhood SES was defined by income, and neighborhoods were grouped as living in advantaged or disadvantaged areas. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare the death-free survival rates between the different SES groups after adjusting for possible confounding and risk factors.ResultsAfter adjusting for patient characteristics (age, gender, Charlson Comorbidity Index Score, urbanization, and area of residence), tumor extent, treatment modalities (operation and adjuvant therapy), and hospital characteristics (ownership and teaching level), colorectal cancer, and head and neck cancer patients under 65 years old with low individual SES in disadvantaged neighborhoods conferred a 1.5 to 2-fold higher risk of mortality, compared with patients with high individual SES in advantaged neighborhoods. A cross-level interaction effect was found in lung cancer and breast cancer. Lung cancer and breast cancer patients less than 65 years old with low SES in advantaged neighborhoods carried the highest risk of mortality. Prostate cancer patients aged 65 and above with low SES in disadvantaged neighborhoods incurred the highest risk of mortality. There was no association between SES and mortality for cervical cancer and pancreatic cancer.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that cancer patients with low individual SES have the highest risk of mortality even under a universal health-care system. Public health strategies and welfare policies must continue to focus on this vulnerable group.
We studied the effect of Age-Adjusted Comorbidity Index Score in colorectal cancer patients who underwent similarly aggressive treatment.Using the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, we identified 5643 patients with colorectal cancer who underwent surgical resection and chemoradiation from 2007 through 2011. We estimated survival according to Age-Adjusted Comorbidity Index Scores and 5-year survival using Cox proportional hazard regression analysis, adjusting for sex, oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, socioeconomic status, geographic region, and hospital characteristics.In the cohort were 3230 patients with colonic cancer and 2413 patients with rectal cancer, who had undergone combined surgical resection and either neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemoradiation. After adjusting for patient characteristics (sex, oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, socioeconomic status, geographic region, and hospital-characteristics), colonic cancer patients with age-adjusted Charlson (AAC) ≥6 had a 106% greater risk of death within 5 years (adjusted HR = 2.06; 95% CI, 1.66–2.56). In rectal cancer patients, patients with an AAC score of 4–5 had a 28% greater risk of death within 5 years (adjusted HR = 1.28; 95% CI, 1.02–1.61), and those with AAC ≥6 had a 47% greater risk (adjusted HR = 1.47; 95% CI, 1.15–1.90).Age and burden of comorbidities influence survival of patients with colonic or rectal cancer. Age-Adjusted Comorbidity Score remains an independent prognostic factor even after adjusting for the aggressiveness of treatment.
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