Social inequality increases the risk of cancer

In Germany the risk of showing cancer is decreasing. That's good news. But another development makes a significant difference very clear, because reducing cancer cases is more pronounced in regions better social situation than in other countries, writes the team led by Lena Jansen from the German Kancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in the “International Journal of Cancer”.

In their study, scientists examined the data from 48 million people in eight Londons in Germany and compared cancer diagnosis between 2007 and 2018. The result: Social inequality is increasingly affecting the rate of new cancer cases in Germany.

Cancer and Social Inequality - Clear trend

Researchers first classified all regions involved in the study in five different groups using a socioeconomic index, which included, among other things, income, employment rate and education.

Researchers found that fewer people have been affected by cancer at this time in all five groups of students. But this drop in disease rates is much smaller in areas with a more difficult social situation than in richer ones. Scientists have studied both cancer and colon and lung cancer in particular among males.

Researchers found that social inequality has increased during the survey period. While in 2007 men in the most disadvantaged socio-economic regions had a seven percent higher risk rate of cancer than men in richer regions, this figure rose to 23 percent in 2018. And in women the difference has increased from seven percent in 2007 to 20 percent in 2018. Which means that there has been a marked increase in the difference between cancer patients and the poorest population in both men and women.

What factors cause social inequality?

To combat this inequality, it is first important to know what characterizes the weaker socioeconomic regions. Medical care and medical infrastructure have remained relatively similar. But individual factors such as unemployment, the percentage of people with well-being or social problems, and the dropout rate have increased markedly, depending on the region and the social situation of the surveyed countries. The social factors seem to play a much larger role in this data than general infrastructure”, notes Lena Jansen of the Cancer Epidemiology Record. DKFZ in Baden-Wurtemberg.

According to researchers, growing numbers of cancer sufferers also have an impact on their lifestyle. Among other things, the socioeconomic situation, the use of tobacco, lack of training and sports practice, overweights, and several other factors are affected.

Cancer often preventable

“Between 30 and 50 percent of cancers can be avoided through a healthy lifestyle, such as the non-consuming of tobacco and public health conservation measures, such as vaccines against cancer infections”, warns the World Health Organization (OBSH). Prevention is the long-term strategy with the lowest costs of fighting cancer.

Besides smoking, WHO ranks among the greatest threats to conacer's performance as well as alcohol consumption, unhealthy food, lack of training and sports, and air pollution.

Lena Jansen from the DKFZ highlights the importance and possibilities of cancer prevention: our <x0-results show that in the future we have to make special efforts so that all people can benefit equally from recommendations on the healthier way of life, as well as the early examinations and discovery of cancer, regardless of their social or economic situation”. /dw