Poorer patients have poorer survival after cancer diagnosis

HealthDay/Washington Post, June 24, 2008

Low socioeconomic status increases a cancer patient's risk of dying, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Denver. The study found that cancer patients with low socioeconomic status had more advanced cancers at time of diagnosis, received less aggressive treatment, and had a higher risk of dying within five years of diagnosis. Researchers analyzed data on almost 14,000 breast, prostate and colorectal patients in seven states.