Close
Aurelian Belot, Laura Woods and Fiona Ingleby, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Iain Atherton, Edinburgh Napier University
(Project no. 1014644)
In the UK, cancer survival varies by area-based deprivation. We will use the ONS Longitudinal Study to perform an in-depth study of the association between the individual patient's deprivation and cancer survival, considering in particular how this association is influenced by the socio-economic context (as measured by area-based deprivation score), whether it varies over time since diagnosis and whether it has changed over calendar time. The results will enable cancer policies aimed at reducing deprivation differences in survival to be more appropriately targeted. This differs from other research which examines individual and area-based deprivation and cancer mortality using the ONS LS, e.g. Charlotte Sturley’s research, by examining all cancers (not colorectal cancer specifically), and by examining the extent to which individual deprivation status is modified according to the deprivation level of the area in which the LS member lives (research question 3, below).
The overarching aim of this research is to conduct an in-depth investigation of (i) the impact of a patient’s individual deprivation as measured by their income, employment status and educational level upon excess mortality from cancer in England, (ii) examine the independent influence of the patient’s deprivation context upon these associations and to effectively communicate the implications of these findings to UK cancer policy makers. This project is funded by the ESRC under the Secondary Data Analysis Initiative.