Educational disparities in cancer incidence, stage, and survival in Oslo.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine disparities in cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis, and survival rates across districts with differences in education levels in Oslo, Norway. METHODS: Aggregated data from the Cancer Registry of Norway in the period 2013-2021 were used to describe the distribution of cancer incidence and survival across Oslo's 15 administrative districts, subsequently grouped into three areas based on the population's level of education. Age-standardised incidence rates and five-year relative survival were calculated for colon, rectal, lung, melanoma, breast, and prostate cancer. The stage at the time of diagnosis was categorised as localised, regional, distant, and unknown for all cancer types except breast cancer, which was categorised into stage I-IV and unknown. RESULTS: Mid- and high-education areas had higher incidences of breast, melanoma, and prostate cancer, while the low-education area had higher incidence rates for lung cancer. The low-education area had a higher proportion diagnosed at a distant stage than the other groups for all cancer types studied, except breast cancer. The mid- and high-education areas had higher five-year relative survival rates overall. CONCLUSIONS: Incidence, stage at diagnosis, and survival varied between education areas. The variation indicates disparities in healthcare access, quality of care, and health behaviours. Addressing these disparities can help improve overall health outcomes and promote health equity.

Moral distress among physicians in Norway: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES: To explore and compare physicians' reported moral distress in 2004 and 2021 and identify factors that could be related to these responses. DESIGN: Longitudinal survey. SETTING: Data were gathered from the Norwegian Physician Panel Study, a representative sample of Norwegian physicians, conducted in 2004 and 2021. PARTICIPANTS: 1499 physicians in 2004 and 2316 physicians in 2021. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The same survey instrument was used to measure change in moral distress from 2004 to 2021. Logistic regression analyses examined the role of gender, age and place of work. RESULTS: Response rates were 67% (1004/1499) in 2004 and 71% (1639/2316) in 2021. That patient care is deprived due to time constraints is the most severe dimension of moral distress among physicians, and it has increased as 68.3% reported this 'somewhat' or 'very morally distressing' in 2004 compared with 75.1% in 2021. Moral distress also increased concerning that patients who 'cry the loudest' get better and faster treatment than others. Moral distress was reduced on statements about long waiting times, treatment not provided due to economic limitations, deprioritisation of older patients and acting against one's conscience. Women reported higher moral distress than men at both time points, and there were significant gender differences for six statements in 2021 and one in 2004. Age and workplace influenced reported moral distress, though not consistently for all statements. CONCLUSION: In 2004 and 2021 physicians' moral distress related to scarcity of time or unfair distribution of resources was high. Moral distress associated with resource scarcity and acting against one's conscience decreased, which might indicate improvements in the healthcare system. On the other hand, it might suggest that physicians have reduced their ideals or expectations or are morally fatigued.