Social inequality in cancer survivors’ health behaviours-A Danish population-based study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare health behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and diet), to explore social inequality in these behaviours among cancer survivors and individuals with no history of cancer, respectively, and to study the impact of time since diagnosis on cancer survivors' health behaviours. Data from the Danish National Health Survey from 2013 were linked with data from the Danish Cancer Registry to identify all cancer diagnoses among the respondents during the period 1945-2012. In total, 11,166 cancer survivors and 151,117 individuals with no history of cancer were included. Cancer survivors smoked less and had a more sedentary lifestyle than individuals with no history of cancer. In relation to alcohol and dietary habits, no differences were found between the groups. Wide variations in health behaviours were seen across cancer sites, and in particular lung, bladder and oral cancer survivors had poor health behaviours. We found a clear social gradient in cancer survivors' health behaviours which reveals the need for greater focus on socially differentiated initiatives within prevention and patient education for cancer survivors. Our study revealed rather blurred results in relation to identifying the optimal timing for health-related behavioural interventions in cancer survivors.

A Cross-Sectional Study Evaluating Potential Differences in the Need for Cancer Survivorship Care in Relation to Patients’ Socioeconomic Status

“…In our study, the association between higher socioeconomic status and fewer stated needs was seen both in hospital and in the primary care setting. Further, the literature has shown a clear social gradient in cancer survivors’ health behaviors, which emphasizes the need for much more focus on socially differentiated initiatives of cancer survivors [10]. In addition, we recommend special focus on socioeconomically disadvantaged groups when developing initiatives in the field of survivorship care [11].…”

“…For the most part, public health systems are based on the citizens’ self-management, like being actively engaged in own treatment and survivorship care and contacting the health system when in need [9]. This organization, however, calls for citizens with surplus energy, and could lead to groups of patients not seeking information or being informed of the possibility for and effect of cancer survivorship care, with the result that they miss out on survivorship care [5, 10-12]. This kind of inequity is argued to be present within cancer survivorship care, since the most exposed patients apparently do not participate in survivorship care in primary care services to the same extent as other patients [4, 11, 12].…”

A Classification Approach for Cancer Survivors from Those Cancer-Free, Based on Health Behaviors: Analysis of the Lifelines Cohort

“…Importantly, the assessment and identification of health behaviors in cancer survivors compared to cancer-free individuals could help them to be aware of their health behaviors and strengthen their prognosis [ 7 ]. Studies have evaluated/identified the differences in health behaviors of cancer survivors compared to cancer-free people in population-based studies, most commonly using techniques such as logistic regression or prevalence ratios [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. The most frequently evaluated health behaviors in cancer survivors are alcohol consumption, smoking, and physical activity [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

Association between polymorphism in CDKN2B-AS1 gene and its interaction with smoking on the risk of lung cancer in a Chinese population

“…NSCLC includes four major types: adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma, and adenosquamous carcinoma. Age, lifestyle [1], genetic , endocrine [2], occupational exposure [3, 4], and other environmental factors [5] play important roles in lung cancer. In the past years, studies had shown that smoking was the strongest environmental risk factor for the occurrence and development of lung cancer.…”