Deprivation gap in cancer survival

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Although long-term survival continues to rise among women from all social classes, the gap between rich and poor still persists.

One year after diagnosis, survival rates were lower for breast cancer patients from deprived backgrounds than those from affluent backgrounds.

And five years after diagnosis, this "deprivation gap" had doubled.

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, looked at more than 380,000 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer in England and Wales between 1986 and 1999.

Even after adjusting for other causes of death, the five-year survival of women with breast cancer who lived in the most affluent areas was around 6% higher than for women who lived in deprived areas.

The study noted that the gap also exists for many other types of cancer. However, this gap does not generally widen between one and five year survival rates, suggesting breast cancer is the exception.

Professor Michel Coleman, a Cancer Research UK epidemiologist and author of accompanying commentaries to the figures, said one reason why the gap may widen over time is due to lower take-up of radiotherapy among women from deprived backgrounds. This leads to a higher risk of late recurrence of breast cancer.