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Paul Norman and Charlotte Sturley, University of Leeds
(Project no. 1010286)
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in both men and women in the UK and overall is the second most common cause of cancer death. There are around 41,000 new cases of bowel cancer diagnosed in the UK each year and 16,000 deaths from the disease (Cancer Research UK, 2017). Variations in incidence and survival exist in relation to age, sex, socio-economic status and ethnicity as well as between geographic regions within the UK. This study aims to determine whether socio-economic factors are involved in the incidence of and survival from bowel cancer.
Previous research using the ONS Longitudinal Study (LS) by Brown et al. (1998) found the trend in socio-economic differentials in bowel cancer incidence was not consistent over time. In the period 1986-90, incidence was highest among women in IV/V (unskilled and semi-skilled manual occupations) and among men in social classes IIIN and IIIM (non- manual and manual skilled occupations). Using an earlier measure of social class, higher incidence was found among women in the non-manual classes. Continued research is therefore required to investigate whether the pattern of colorectal cancer incidence is changing.
This study will update research by Brown et al. (1998) by utilising the latest data from the ONS LS. The ONS LS links census and vital event information (including cancer registrations) to the records of study members across successive censuses. Thus it provides an ideal data source to investigate the relationship between socio-economic position and cancer survival over a long follow-up period.
Bowel cancer survival will be examined for LS members by individual and household measures of socio-economic position, including occupational social grade, housing tenure, car ownership, educational level and employment status. Individual-level indicators such as these are not routinely collected by healthcare providers so this type of linkage is only possible through studies such as the ONS LS. In addition, area-level indicators including area deprivation and geodemographic classification will be appended to LS members based on their place of residence.
This study is part of a PhD project investigating social and spatial variations in bowel cancer incidence and survival. The PhD is funded by Cancer Research UK via the Bowel Cancer Intelligence Unit at the University of Leeds. Further studies will explore alternative data sources to obtain additional information about individuals with bowel cancer. These include data from Public Health England relating to cancer registrations and hospital admissions, lifestyle information from the UK Biobank and new forms of data such as consumer and social media data. Measures of area type will be kept consistent with those used in the analysis of the ONS LS.
References:
Brown, J., Harding, S., Bethune, A. & Rosato, M. (1998) Longitudinal study of socio-economic differences in the incidence of stomach, colorectal and pancreatic cancers. Population Trends 94: 35-41