Low socioeconomic position is a risk factor for delay to treatment and mortality of testicular cancer patients in Hungary, a prospective study.
BMC Public Health
; 21(1): 1707, 2021 09 19.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34538241
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
In Hungary, the mortality rate for testicular germ cell cancer (TGCC) is 0,9/100000 which is significantly higher than the EU average. We prospectively evaluated the effect of socioeconomic position on patient delay and therapy outcomes.METHODS:
Questionnaires on subjective social status (MacArthur Subjective Status Scale), objective socioeconomic position (wealth, education, and housing data), and on patient's delay were completed by newly diagnosed TGCC patients.RESULTS:
Patients belonged to a relatively high socioeconomic class, a university degree was double the Hungarian average, Cancer-specific mortality in the highest social quartile was 1.56% while in the lowest social quartile 13.09% (p = 0.02). In terms of patient delay, 57.2% of deceased patients waited more than a year before seeking help, while this number for the surviving patients was 8.0% (p = 0.0000). Longer patient delay was associated with a more advanced stage in non-seminoma but not in seminoma, the correlation coefficient for non-seminoma was 0.321 (p < 0.001). For patient delay, the most important variables were the mother's and patient's education levels (r = - 0.21, p = 0.0003, and r = - 0.20, p = 0.0005), respectively. Since the patient delay was correlated with the social quartile and resulted in a more advanced stage in non-seminoma, the lower social quartile resulted in higher mortality in non-seminoma patients (p = 0.005) but not in seminoma patients (p = 0.36) where the patient delay was not associated with a more advanced stage.CONCLUSIONS:
Based on our result, we conclude that to improve survival, we should promote testicular cancer awareness, especially among the most deprived populations, and their health care providers.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Neoplasias Testiculares
/
Neoplasias de Células Germinales y Embrionarias
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Humans
/
Male
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Public Health
Asunto de la revista:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Año:
2021
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Hungria