Socioeconomic inequalities in cancer survival in the Netherlands and Great Britain: small-area based studies usiug cancer registry data

Cancer is the second most impOltant cause of death in the Netherlands, as it is in many developed countries. In 1990 about 30% of all deaths in the Netherlands could be ascribed to cancer. I In general, survival from cancer is rather poor but it varies by such characteristics as the organ of origin of the tumour and age of the patient. Socioeconomic status is another factor which has been found to be of prognostic importance for cancer patients.' In general, cancer patients fi'om lower socioeconomic groups have a lower survival rate than patients fi'om higher socioeconomic groups. The subject of this thesis is the association between socioeconomic status and cancer survival in the southeastern Netherlands and the area covered by the South Thames Regional Health Authority (RHA) in South East England. Both a description of and explanations for variation in survival by socioeconomic status in these two areas are given. The studies reported in this thesis, can be placed within a broader framework of research on socioeconomic inequalities in health (paragraph 1.1) as well as within a narrower framework of research on socioeconomic inequalities in cancer (paragraph 1.2). In the final paragraph of this introduction, the aims of the studies reported in this thesis are presented (paragraph 1.3).