Understanding the impact of socioeconomic differences in colorectal cancer survival: potential gain in life-years

Background Colorectal cancer prognosis varies substantially with socioeconomic status. We investigated differences in life expectancy between socioeconomic groups and estimated the potential gain in life-years if cancer-related survival differences could be eliminated. Methods This population-based study included 470,000 individuals diagnosed with colon and rectal cancers between 1998 and 2013 in England. Using flexible parametric survival models, we obtained a range of life expectancy measures by deprivation status. The number of life-years that could be gained if differences in cancer-related survival between the least and most deprived groups were removed was also estimated. Results We observed up to 10% points differences in 5-year relative survival between the least and most deprived. If these differences had been eliminated for colon and rectal cancers diagnosed in 2013 then almost 8231 and 7295 life-years would have been gained respectively. This results for instance in more than 1-year gain for each colon cancer male patient in the most deprived group on average. Cancer-related differences are more profound earlier on, as conditioning on 1-year survival the main reason for socioeconomic differences were factors other than cancer. Conclusion This study highlights the importance of policies to eliminate socioeconomic differences in cancer survival as in this way many life-years could be gained