Incidence of and survival from upper aerodigestive tract cancers in the U.K.: the influence of deprivation.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of social deprivation on the incidence of and survival from upper aerodigestive tract (UAT) cancers in the U.K. Incidence was calculated on 25,903 cases of malignant upper aerodigestive tract cancers collected from four cancer registries in the U.K. for the period 1984-1993. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to determine the influence of deprivation, measured in Carstairs quintiles for crude and cause-specific survival on 17,393 of these cases. Patients with UAT cancers who were younger, males or of South Asian origin were more likely to live in a deprived area than in an affluent area. The incidence of UAT cancers in a district was correlated with deprivation score for the district for both men (r = 0.78) and for women (r = 0.60). People who lived in deprived areas had a relative risk of 1.25 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15-1.35) of dying from their cancer and of 1.24 (95% CI: 1.13-1.35) of dying from all causes compared with people who lived in affluent areas. People living in deprived areas were more likely to get UAT cancer and were more likely to die from their cancer than people living in affluent areas.