Abstract

Study objective: To investigate the hypothesis that biological aging, as measured by age at diagnosis of some common cancers, is socioeconomically patterned.

Design: A cross sectional analysis of the association between an area based measure of material deprivation and age at diagnosis of four common cancers (breast, prostate, colorectal, and lung cancers). A further analysis, restricted to breast and colorectal cancer, adjusted for stage and grade of cancer at diagnosis.

Setting: The Northern and Yorkshire cancer registry and information service, Northern and Yorkshire region, UK.

Participants: All people living in the Northern and Yorkshire region diagnosed with breast, prostate, colorectal, or lung cancer in 1986–1995. All people living in the Northern and Yorkshire region diagnosed with breast or colorectal cancer in 1998–2000 with data on stage and grade of cancer at diagnosis.

Main results: There was evidence that greater material deprivation was associated with younger age at diagnosis of cancer in prostate (β coefficient −0.073), colorectal (women: −0.042; men: −0.063), and lung cancer (women: −0.214; men: −0.161). The opposite association was found in women with breast cancer (0.149). Adjusting for stage and grade at incidence, where possible, had little effect on the magnitude of the β coefficients.

Conclusions: Age at diagnosis of some common cancers seems to be socioeconomically patterned with people from more deprived areas being diagnosed with prostate, colorectal, and lung cancers earlier in life. The opposite was seen in women with breast cancer. Further work is required to investigate the socioeconomic distribution of more accurate measures of biological aging.