Researchers: No Explanation for Worse Survival Rate of Lower-Income Patients

British researchers report that the significantly worse survival rate of lower-income patients having surgery for colorectal cancer cannot be attributed to their disease being more advanced when it was discovered.

The researchers, reporting in the British Journal of Surgery, said they analyzed the outcomes of 2,269 patients who had surgery in central Scotland for colorectal cancer from 1991 to 1994.

Even though they found "no significant differences" in extent of disease when it was discovered, type or surgery or postoperative mortality rate, the researchers said the five-year survival rate was 47 percent for "deprived" patients compared to 55.4 percent for "affuluent" patients.

"These findings confirm that the cancer-specific survival rate following surgery for colorectal cancer is lower in deprived patients," the researchers reported. "Stage of disease at presentation and type of operation did not account for this difference."

Other sources: British Journal of Surgery