Volume 74 Number 2, 1996
Explaing Reduced Cancer Survival among the Disadvantaged
Howard P. Greenwald, Edgar F. Borgatta, Ruth McCorkle, and Nayak Polissar
The fact that socially disadvantaged cancer patients face a greater risk of mortality than the advantaged is well recognized but poorly understood. Exisiting research and a newly completed 10-year survival study suggest that complex interrelations among biological factors, medical interventions, and specific dimensions of social differentiation determine survival differences. Patterns of interrelations among determinants of survival appear compatible with an "economic" model in some forms of cancer and a "cognitive-behavioral" model in others. Findings presented here suggest that improved access to health care will reduce mortality risk among the disadvantaged in at least some malignancies, but will not alone make their survival chanes equal to those of the advantaged.
