UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Objective: The aim of the study was to show differences in mortality due to the most frequent neoplasm among males and females depending on their level of education, which is in Poland the best ratio of social awareness.

Methods: The basis for this analysis was a set of data on number of deaths due to most frequent malignant neoplasm in male and female population aged 20-74 years (around 60000 deaths per year). The differences in mortality were studied among people having one of the four categories of education: primary, vocational, secondary and academic. To assess these differences standardized rate ratio (SRR) was used (p<0.05).

Results: Cancers are more frequent cause of death in the population with primary and vocational education than among people with academic education. Men and women with lower education level in comparison to those best educated have (depending on age) higher risk of death due to particular neoplasm: up to 5 times higher in lung cancer, up to 3 times higher in stomach cancer, up to 12 times higher in cervix cancer. In colorectal cancer increased death risk was observed among males with vocational and primary education, whereas females with academic education have around 1.5 times lower death risk due to this neoplasm than females with any other category of education. There were no significant differences observed in mortality due to breast cancer in population of older females with various education categories; whereas in younger generation (20-49 years) slightly higher risk (SRR=1.24) can be observed among females with secondary education.