A new study revealed that there are more poor women often diagnosed with advanced breast cancer stage than those who are wealthy. The findings alarmed researchers as hundreds of lives should have been spared if early diagnosis and treatment was done.
Dr. Gary Abel, lead author of the study from the University of Cambridge, U.K., and his colleagues from Leicester Universities examined the medical records of 20,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2006 and 2010. Their analysis revealed that poor women were often diagnosed with advanced breast cancer stage wherein treatment is less effective. On the opposite, wealthy women were often diagnosed with an earlier breast cancer stage thus their bodies were still responsive to the treatment.
The researchers then computed of the possible number of lives that could have been saved if these poor women consulted their doctors earlier. They found that if these women were diagnosed with the same stage wealthy women had, about 450 lives would have been spared yearly.
“These avoidable deaths are not due to differences in the response to treatment, or the type of breast cancer. Rather these are deaths that might be avoided if cancer was caught as early in women from deprived backgrounds as those from more affluent backgrounds,” Abel said in a statement.
“The reason for this inequality may be a combination of these women being less aware of breast cancer symptoms and a greater reluctance to see their GP.”
The study was presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool.
The researchers didn’t mention why poor women were diagnosed late but it is most likely because of the expenses that comes with the consultation and the tests needed. In the U.K, the cost of private breast cancer general screening may be between £80 and £310 while general diagnostic may reach £1830.
